The dedicated medical staff at a Duquesne women's basketball game sprang into action last month to save Ed Wesolowski, a father of three, after he suffered a widow-maker heart attack and collapsed at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
Wesolowski's wife Katie recalled the terrifying moment while speaking with ABC Pittsburgh affiliate WTAE-TV.
"[I] just grabbed his face, and he was shaking. He was, like, blue ... I thought he was having a seizure. But deep down, I think I knew," she said. "Just remember seeing them bring the AED over, and I turned and looked, and they were doing chest compressions on him."
A widow-maker heart attack is a heart attack that involves the left anterior descending artery, which supplies a large part of the front of the heart. It is one of three important arteries that supply blood to the heart, and it is the most common artery to be the "culprit" in patients developing a heart attack. It is a life-threatening condition.
Heart attacks occur when a blood clot causes a blockage in the arteries of the heart like the one described above. Risk factors include diabetes, a family history of premature heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and "occupational stress." Symptoms of a widow-maker heart attack can include chest pain that may be "described as tightness or pressure-like," and chest pain that may "radiate to the neck, jaw, or shoulder," according to StatPearls, an online library published in the National Library of Medicine, as well as shortness of breath, dizziness or upset stomach.
Recalling the moments just prior to the heart attack, Wesolowski described feeling an unusual sensation before collapsing.
"I remember a warm, like, sort of dizzy feeling, and I guess [it] overtook my body. It started, like, in my feet and sort of was working its way up. And I remember thinking, that's strange. And then the next thing I remember is being revived," he said.
Thankfully, the quick-thinking Duquesne medical team came to Wesolowski's rescue, using a life-saving protocol they had trained for but never had to use before to save his life.
"I think that's when our instincts took over, with [assistant strength and conditioning coach Liz Lee] immediately grabbing the AED, [and athletic trainer Travis Moyer] and I just ... running up there, because that's what we've been trained to do," Dr. Ryan Nussbaum, the team physician who reportedly performed chest compressions on Wesolowski, told WTAE-TV. "And you're just focused on doing what you've learned through basic life support."
Teens who performed lifesaving CPR for wrestler in cardiac arrest speak outMoyer added, "Everything went the way that it was supposed to, the way that it was planned. It was kind of a unique situation that it was a fan and not an athlete, but the protocol and the process is always the same, no matter who the patient is."
Wesolowski expressed deep gratitude for the team's actions.
"How prepared they were to recognize the situation and know exactly what to do, and in a very tense moment, you know ... I'm crazy thankful for all of that," he said.
Last week, Wesolowski and his family returned to the very arena where his life nearly ended. Before the game, he met the medical team who saved him for the first time.
Duquesne honored its training staff that night, and while the applause was loud, nothing could match the gratitude the Wesolowski family said they felt.
"I mean, because if it wasn't for [them], and if all of those things [didn't] come together at the right time, then, you know, it might have been a different story -- but they were ready to go," Wesolowski said.
