My heart stopped, 42 mins in total ...I’m a dead man walking!
‘Miracle Man’ wants his story to inspire others
A MAN who was dead for 42 minutes following a cardiac arrest has penned a book about his ordeal to raise awareness of heart issues – and give hope to others.
Kevin Shanahan called his book ‘The Miracle Man’ – the nickname he was given by nurses at the Mater Hospital in Dublin where he spent eight days in a coma.
The 54-year-old dental technician told how he was fit and healthy and showed no signs of illness before he collapsed on October 21, 2021.
Dad-of-four Kevin told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I was dead for 42 minutes altogether.
“I went into cardiac arrest which I put down to stress as I was [going through a] divorce at the time. I had no pulse, wasn’t breathing, nothing.
“I had felt a bit dizzy that morning, but I was healthy up until that point. People started doing CPR until the paramedics arrived 17 minutes later and took over.
BLOCKAGE
“It took them a further 25 minutes then to get me back to life, to get some kind of registration off my heart.
“It was a 100 per cent blockage in the LAD – what they call the widowmaker.”
Kevin said that despite all the odds being stacked against him he is now on the road to recovery.
He added: “I’m still alive which is the main thing. The chance of me surviving, without any major brain damage, was miniscule.
“Some of the nurses actually nicknamed me ‘Miracle Man’ as I shouldn’t have survived. I was eight days in a coma and on life support.
“The paramedics and those at the scene had to use what they call battlefield techniques on me, they had to drill a hole in the front of my shin and inject directly into the bone marrow.
“They had to throw everything at me.”
Kevin is self-employed and hopes sales from his book will help him pay off his debts as he was unable to work for a time after his ordeal.
He said: “I did ask the paramedics when I went to visit them afterwards to thank them, ‘Why did you keep going on me?’
“They said ‘Because you never stop fighting the whole time and if someone is fighting we keep going’.
“They had to break my whole chest in while doing chest compressions so I was in a lot of pain when I eventually woke up from that.
“I still get chest pain now which is probably from that and my memory can be a bit off at times but I’m lucky to still be here.”
Kevin, who once helped make dentures for homeless people in Dublin, said: “The book is about what I went through, from my cardiac arrest up until now and my road to recovery.
“I go into the physical and mental damage that it caused to me, which I continue to fight against.
“I want to let people with chronic illnesses know that they can get better too, that a little every single day can count as huge leaps done over time.
“That no matter their position, they can improve and they can take back some control stolen by their accident or illness.”
Kevin said despite some progress with his health, there has been a huge financial burden hanging over him since his hospital stay.
He revealed: “I’m ruined financially since I got sick, I can’t work any more and I was self-employed. I still get severe pain and fatigue so I can’t.
“I have been told I can’t get sick benefit as I was self-employed and I don’t qualify.
“As I have a tax return outstanding since Covid,
I can’t get it. I have no money to pay an accountant to do it. “I’m hoping to raise some money from the book to get the banks off my back.
“What’s mad is I once helped make dentures for the homeless and now I face the same fate of being homeless if I don’t get on top of this.”
Miracle Man is available for €1.99 at suddencardiacarrest.ie.
I’d no pulse, nothing... I should not have survived