It was 5:16 a.m. when the call came in to a 911 dispatcher in Madison, Wisconsin. The story, from Cathy Silver, came out staccato: Cathy's husband, Jim, was gagging, gasping for air. A nurse at the University of Wisconsin Hospital, Cathy could see that her husband, the father of four grown children, was in cardiac arrest.
Though trained in CPR, Cathy was flustered. "I can't do the breaths!" she shouted. Nevermind, said the dispatcher. Get over him, press on his the chest, circulate the blood. Help would be there soon
Four minutes later, a Madison police officer arrived and took over. More chest compressions, still no breaths. By the time paramedics arrived, it was nearly 10 minutes since Jim had stopped breathing.
Fifty frantic minutes later, after more than a dozen electric shocks to the heart, seven injections of epinephrine, and one wild ambulance ride, Jim's heart regained a stable beat. A week later, he was up and talking in his hospital bed.
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