Shai Gray took her son to the St. Luke\u2019s Miners Campus ER to be treated for a dog bite in early September 2023, unaware she would need medical resuscitation at the same time after apparently suffering a rare but very real sudden, life-threatening heart condition known in the medical literature as \u201cbroken heart syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Tamaqua resident, whose grandmother had died a few weeks before, was feeling highly emotionally stressed and anxious as she waited with her nine-year-old Wyatt, and her husband, unaware of the events that were unfolding in her heart.<\/p>\n
But she was in the right place at the right time for what happened next.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel well, so I drank a glass of water, but then I don\u2019t remember anything more,\u201d says Gray, who works as a mental health technician at Kids Peace.<\/p>\n
She had technically died from a cardiac arrest. Her heart had literally stopped beating, caused by an often-lethal heart rhythm, ventricular fibrillation, which was triggered by her high level of stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n
According to St. Luke\u2019s ER Physician Gerald Coleman, DO, who was about to suture her son\u2019s face, Gray was clinically dead for a minute or two.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe dropped to the floor and literally turned blue and had no pulse,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
Dr. Coleman, the ER nursing staff, respiratory therapy and a resident physician started CPR on Gray, then shocked her heart with a defibrillator about 10 times before getting a pulse. This took roughly 30 minutes, according to Dr. Coleman.<\/p>\n
Gray was stabilized in the ER, then flown via to St. Luke\u2019s Bethlehem Campus, where cardiologist-electrophysiologist Sudip Nanda, MD, inserted an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) in her chest, to shock her heart into beating should it ever arrest again.<\/p>\n
Then she had a similar episode a few weeks later, while Gray and her daughters were shopping at the Tamaqua Train Station.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like I had been kicked in the chest,\u201d she said describing the shock from the ICD. \u201cBut it saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to St. Luke\u2019s cardiac electrophysiologist Steven Stevens, MD, \u201cThis young lady demonstrates the incredible effect of the heart-brain interaction.\u00a0 Plausible explanations of why she had a cardiac arrest\u00a0include coronary vasospasm (temporary blockage in a major heart artery related to stress hormone) and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called Broken Heart Syndrome, which occur when someone witnesses a very stressful situation,\u00a0as she did while watching her son about to get stitches.\u201d<\/p>\n
While taking care of Gray after her sudden cardiac arrest episode, Darren Traub, DO, part of the cardiac electrophysiology team at St. Luke\u2019s, observed, \u201cIt was clear that she had a rare condition in which her heart arteries were spasming causing a life-threatening rhythm disturbance called polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStress was a contributing factor, as Dr. Stevens suggested. After observing her heart\u2019s behavior in our ICU, we\u00a0started her on medicines to prevent heart artery spasms, and she has had no further rhythm problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today Gray is feeling much better and grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff at St. Luke\u2019s Miners and Bethlehem Campuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey take good care of me, after saving my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have survived my two cardiac arrests if it wasn\u2019t for these skilled and caring professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 300+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 45 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 400 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 11 times total and eight years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest cost providers.<\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: Shai Gray took her son to the St. Luke\u2019s Miners Campus ER to be treated for a dog bite in early September 2023, unaware she would need medical resuscitation at … Continue reading Not a Valentine\u2019s Day Story: Heartbreak Literally Causes Local Woman to Flatline<\/span>
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"