A friend drowned saturday

I have an odd and stressful story.

 

I texted a friend last week (22 years old, fairly fit) to invite him to my pool. He said he was still at tablerock lake running their marina and wouldnt be back in town until friday, but he could come then. Well, he decided to stay an extra day with his friend. Saturday morning at 10:30 they went wake boarding on the lake. He always wears a life jacket and a helmet. He went down on his last run, but didnt come up like normal. His friend who was driving found him unconscious, and tried to pull him onto the boat. Unfortunately, it was a struggle and there wasnt anyone else around to help. He is about 200 pounds.

 

A couple minutes later a boat went by and saw the struggle and helped. They got him on the boat and found he wasnt breathing on his own. Around 5 minutes passed. They called 911 and his friend tried his best at CPR, but he was already blue. They had to drive him to a dock and a helicopter was there waiting.

 

The paramedics said he didnt have a heart beat. They were able to get it started again after 3 shocks, but he was still not breathing and they gave him a tube. They said his heart had quit for close to 15 minutes by that point. When they got him to the hospital, they put him in an ice bath, put a BIS monitor on him and sedated him. His BIS level was 14. Im sure Assman can explain this, but I think this is close to dead. But, his heart was beating and he was given air.

 

None of us could figure out what happened. They said his brain was swelling. We wondered if he broke his neck or had a head injury. The doctor concluded that he inhaled a full breathe of water when he hit, and this is what did him in.

 

They kept him in ice for about 24 hours, and started to warm him up to test things. Nothing odd seemed to happen, so they started to reduce his medically induced coma. Weird stuff started to happen. His vitals and brain activity would change when his parents talked to him, and they were getting stronger. Within the first day his BIS rating was 40. They decided to keep going and last night his BIS went to 80 and he was squeezing on command and they discovered he had no paralysis. Fast forward to today...

 

He is awake. He knows who everyone is. Hes talking. Its pretty unbelievable.

 

I was waiting for a call that he was dead. Now, he is almost normal. The only problem he has now is some confusion. At some times, he thinks hes there to see his sisters new baby (who is 5 years old). But, he also knows what he did last week.

 

His mom is going to call me tomorrow so I can talk to him. I dont know how he is alive. I dont know how he is not brain dead. Im hoping that he is "normal" again. It is hard to believe that in 48 hours he's where he is, so Im keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Anyone else have this experience? Even if it was 8 minutes of no heart beat, it is amazing. Crazy thing is that he had a gopro on him when it happened and nobody has watched it yet.

That's a crazy story. I'm glad your friend is ok and hope he makes a fully recovery. There's a lot of mysteries like this one, I had a friend in college who literally died from an allergic reaction for 2 minutes until our one friend kicked him and suddenly he sprang up to life. The mysteries of life.

What an amazing and frightening story. Just not his time to go. Glad to hear that he's back to "normal".

Misread the story, apologies. Sorry to hear, man. Unfortunately, saltwater takes less of a toll on someone than freshwater. Freshwater kills a person much faster than saltwater by a few minutes, I believe. 22 is an awfully young age to go. Glad he's okay.

I'll never forget this video I saw in medical school.

 

 

Amazing, the resilience shuman body is capable of.

Misread the story, apologies. Sorry to hear, man. Unfortunately, saltwater takes less of a toll on someone than freshwater. Freshwater kills a person much faster than saltwater by a few minutes, I believe. 22 is an awfully young age to go. Glad he's okay.

 

You have to reread the whole narrative.

 

I haven't used a BIS in a long time but did play with them at one time. BIS basically measures brain activity and then takes an average and gives a single output number that corresponds roughly to levels of consciousness.

 

Your friend had one major thing work for him, youth.

 

Then the CPR the others did for him plus the fact that they were able to get his heart reworking quickly and the fact that the hospital did the cryotherapy to preserve brain function. It's an amazing story. I hope he has a full recovery.

Lucky man. I hope the best for him.

Amazing story with a happy ending, please changed the thread title, I actually thought the poor guy died when I read the title!

 

Wish your friend a speedy and complete recovery!

 

wow, scary, especially since we just got back from a weekend of wake boarding and skiing... hope he recovers fully....

 

 

Glad to hear he was able to make it, crazy story.

 

And I don't want to be that guy.....but perhaps add "almost" to your thread title?

Makes me think twice as I am about to bring my jet ski out for the season.

 

Definitely very easy to get carried away and this story makes you realize how dangerous the water can be.

 

It makes me happy to know that it sounds like he is recovering.

That is crazy. Amazing he is still alive and doing well. Great he has a second chance. I am still curious if he came by Friday to go swimming?

 

Edit: Sorry was trying to bring some humor to a sad thing.

Kudos to everyone called into action on saving this young man's life. Great to see a story like this with all of the bad news lately and thanks for sharing. I agree with Fortis about modifying the thread title too. Lol

Nice to see a happy ending for a change!

We wake board all the time, and I've never heard of this happening before. Freak accident. There was a pro guy that died last year from head trauma, but he collided with another rider.

 

Glad he came out of it, hope he makes a full recovery.

That is really crazy. I hope he will make a fully recovery as soon as possible.

Update...My friend appears to have made a near full recovery. Ive talked with him quite a bit. He may have some short term memory loss, but thats it for now. His heart monitor hasnt had a single flag since then.

 

He sent me the video from his helmet go pro. It is pretty obvious now what happened. When he went down he inhaled water. Just bad timing. When he came up, he was treading water and asked for a float, but you could tell that he had water in him because his voice was weak. He coughed a few times. By the time the boat got to him the water had stopped his heart and he went unconscious. His head went pretty far under water and you can see the last air bubble lave his lungs as they completely filled with water. After that his arms and hands go rigid. His friend got to him after about a minute of no heart beat. Dont know how long actual CPR took to start.

 

He seems to be good considering being clinically dead, in a coma for 2 days, 6 tubes in him, and having all his ribs break from the CPR. They are releasing him from Springfield today with just a heart monitor. I made him an appointment with a friend who is a cardiologist when he gets home. Pretty crazy week for them! He says hes coming over this weekend to sit in my pool and talk. Crazy guy!

Glad he's going to pull through.

 

Since he was clinically dead, you might find out that he might have had a near death experience. My friend's sister had one a few months ago toeing that line of life and death.

That's great news. Crazy accident.

Update...My friend appears to have made a near full recovery. Ive talked with him quite a bit. He may have some short term memory loss, but thats it for now. His heart monitor hasnt had a single flag since then.

 

He sent me the video from his helmet go pro. It is pretty obvious now what happened. When he went down he inhaled water. Just bad timing. When he came up, he was treading water and asked for a float, but you could tell that he had water in him because his voice was weak. He coughed a few times. By the time the boat got to him the water had stopped his heart and he went unconscious. His head went pretty far under water and you can see the last air bubble lave his lungs as they completely filled with water. After that his arms and hands go rigid. His friend got to him after about a minute of no heart beat. Dont know how long actual CPR took to start.

 

He seems to be good considering being clinically dead, in a coma for 2 days, 6 tubes in him, and having all his ribs break from the CPR. They are releasing him from Springfield today with just a heart monitor. I made him an appointment with a friend who is a cardiologist when he gets home. Pretty crazy week for them! He says hes coming over this weekend to sit in my pool and talk. Crazy guy!

 

 

Really happy your buddy made it.....there's a screenplay

Wow I thought he had died. Glad he made it and is recovering. That has to be crazy gopro footage!

Thats incredible! That is great news that he is going to recover.

wow.. hope he makes a full recovery.

Incredible story and scary all at the same time. I hope he makes a full recovery!