Courtesy of the American Heart Association

Kyra Smithlin’s 9-year-old son Bryce noticed his mom drift off to sleep and suddenly start shaking and gasping. Running to get his dad, Tony saw that his 48-year-old wife was ashen gray and not breathing. Bryce called 911 and held the phone to his dad’s ear as the emergency dispatcher provided instructions on performing CPR. When the paramedics arrived, they delivered four shocks to Kyra’s heart. After getting a faint heartbeat they rushed her to the hospital.

After perking up in the emergency room, Kyra’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed on the bed. The medical team started CPR, shocked her heart 40 times over eight hours, and advised the family to prepare for the worst. As Kyra lay in a coma on life support, Bryce talked to her telling her he loved her, and begging her to stay. Nurses said Kyra’s vitals went up when Bryce talked to her. When Kyra emerged from the coma a few days later, she wrote “Bryce is amazing” on a notepad.

Two and a half weeks later, Kyra went home after surviving sudden cardiac arrest. Doctors said she was likely born with a form of cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart muscle), and implanted a defibrillator in her chest to shock her heart into a normal rhythm when needed. Six months later, Kyra had another sudden cardiac arrest at home, and the defibrillator shocked her heart back to life, but her doctors decided to upgrade the unit to a pacemaker/defibrillator.

“It’s such an emotional ride going through that as a family,” says Kyra, explaining that she suffered from PTSD from the ordeal. She says going to therapy helped her recover from an experience that affected her mentally and physically. The family now shares their story about the importance of CPR, and Kyra thinks at least one member of every family should know CPR, since about 70% of cardiac arrests happen at home. “There’s a good chance if you have to perform CPR, it will be on someone you know. I can’t imagine my husband not having jumped in and starting CPR,” Kyra says.

Ten years later, Kyra is grateful for the memories she shares with her family, including the celebration of her children’s recent weddings. “As horrible as it was, what happened changed my life and my family’s lives in a better way,” she says. “We are way closer. We hug each other tighter. We always say, ‘I love you.’ I don’t take a day for granted.”

Kyra Smithlin was featured at last year’s Go Red for Women Luncheon in Buffalo. She wants everyone to know that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women. Despite this, women have been left out of cardiovascular disease research, testing, treatment, and funding. Learn how Go Red for Women is changing that at www.goredforwomen.org. And meet this year’s Real Women on February 25 at the Go Red for Women luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. Visit https://ahabuffalo.ejoinme.org/…/1488137/Default.aspx for tickets and information.