Advocate Spotlight: Justin Toussing

At 29 years old, my wife Kristin had returned home from dropping the kids off at school and said that she had chest pain and tingling fingers. I walked into the room and found Kristin slumped over and breathing strangely. I rolled her over and saw that she was turning blue. After a moment of shock, I called 911. While talking with dispatch, I performed CPR for 6 minutes and 30 seconds until the fire department arrived on scene.

Firefighters found that Kristin was no longer breathing and that her heart had stopped. They applied their AED, which determined immediate shock was necessary. Thankfully, Kristin’s heart started beating again. EMS arrived and rushed her to the hospital, where it was determined that Kristin had gone into Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Kristin remained sedated and on ventilation and therapeutic hypothermia for three days. By God’s grace, Kristin eventually recognized her family members and regained her ability to speak and walk, but not any memory of the event. Kristin spent 11 days in the hospital and endured dozens of invasive tests. Doctors implanted a subcutaneous cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD) that monitors her heart and administers a shock when necessary.

Because CPR was administered within minutes and an AED was used, my wife was able to return home to her family. We now own an AED and travel with it. You never know when a bystander will have to become a lifesaver.