Surgeon who saved hiker later operates on his heart
Calgarian Darrell Parker has taken the idea of having a personal physician to heart.
In a nine-day span, Parker was resuscitated by Dr. Corey Adams, only to have the cardiac surgeon perform a quintuple bypass procedure to finish the job.
It all began June 20 after Parker, 60, finished a hike with his family at the popular Grassi Lakes Trail near Canmore. At the trailhead, he collapsed from a heart attack.
Adams happened to be in the area and noticed the commotion. He ran over to find a passerby draped over Parker, performing CPR.
“He didn’t have a pulse and was completely blue,” said Adams, who’d arrived from Newfoundland to begin practising at the Cumming School of Medicine’s Libin Cardiovascular Institute on April 1.
The surgeon put his experience to work by taking over the CPR and was soon joined by firefighters and paramedics, who “should be very proud of what they did ... all the people in the area contributed,” noted Adams.
On that day, Parker’s wife Shirley said she was told Adams was a heart surgeon, but she assumed “he was someone who worked at Canmore Hospital.”
Parker was taken to the Canmore Hospital, where he was stabilized before being transferred to the Foothills Medical Centre.
There, he underwent cardiac catheterization surgery by a physician who got wind of Adams’ role in the drama near Canmore.
Adams recalled that physician talked to him, saying, “It sounds like you did CPR on the patient I just saw.” Adams then met Parker’s family members, and they asked if Adams could do the upcoming heart surgery Parker required.
“It just kind of completed the whole circle,” said Adams.
Nine days after first helping to save Parker’s life, Adams led the effort to extend it by performing 4.5 hours of quintuple bypass surgery, using arteries from Parker’s arm and chest. It was a successful surgery.
Resting at home Monday after being discharged the previous day, Parker marvelled at the double duty provided by Adams.
“It’s divine intervention ... there’s some higher powers working on that than me,” said Parker. “We’re more than happy it worked out the way it did.”
Adams, who’s practised for seven years as a cardiac surgeon in both Canada and the U.K., said there’s probably little medical advantage for Parker in having him perform both CPR and surgery on him.
But he called the entire episode a remarkable one.
“That part is very rare and surviving a cardiac arrest in the woods is very rare,” said the physician. “This one I will always remember and always be one that’s career-fulfilling.”
Parker, he said, should make a full recovery and be back at work in three months.
His double patient said the story shows the importance of getting medical checkups and knowing how to perform CPR.
“You can make a difference with CPR,” Parker said.
Parker also added that he plans to return to the Grassi Lakes Trail a year from now to create new memories from the hike.
Adams said he’d be happy to be there when that occurs — but under less traumatic circumstances.
“I’d hope the firefighters, the paramedics, anybody who was involved that day, would come back and see Darrell,” Adams said.