THE ISLAND 22 EQUESTRIAN PARK

Heart attack happened at right place, right time

By Jessica Murdy
The Progress
jmurdy@theprogress.com

Sep 15 2007

When Chris Van Der Merwe drove past the Island 22 Equestrian Centre, some horse trials there caught his eye. So, he slowed down to explain the details of the water jump to his friend, Desmond Patrick. The two had just pulled Chris’ boat up out of the Fraser River, after a relaxing day of salmon fishing, jetting around and enjoying a long weekend Sunday.

And that may well have been the last moments of an adventurer’s life. A life that included long-distance kayaking, ultra marathons, go-kart racing and traveling to the ends of the Earth.

“I’ve been active all my life,” he says. Until that Sunday, when he collapsed at the wheel of his pick-up truck, the victim of a massive heart attack. There were no signs, he says. No symptoms. No previous problems.

“I just stopped talking, and slumped over the wheel,” he says.

But it wasn’t the end. Today, he’s sitting in a hospital bed awaiting double-bypass surgery. He’s thinking about life, death and everything in between. But mostly he’s thankful, because that same equestrian event happening at the moment he collapsed — that one that caught his interest — also drew in a special group of spectators: A physician, an anesthesiologist and a Red Cross instructor, all who just happened to be there, and the ambulance attendants standing by at the equestrian centre’s horse trials.

Right when Chris collapsed, Desmond took control of the truck and trailer, parked it and screamed to the crowd for help. He then grabbed his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1.

“They were there within three to four minutes, applying CPR,” he says. “They lost me twice.”

He credits the quick action by his friend and the immediate response from the health professionals on site for his survival. The heart attack put Chris in a coma, so he’s relied on information given to him by Desmond.

Manual CPR performed by the anesthesiologist saved him the first time, he says. A portable defibrillator was used the second time.

But being within metres of the kind of help he needed to survive a heart attack, was a matter of luck, and possibly some divine intervention.

“There was somebody looking after me,” he says. “If we were even 100 yards further down the road, I wouldn’t be here. If it had been 15 or 20 minutes earlier, we would have both been catapulted out of the jet boat.”

Chris has had a bit of time for what-ifs. The usually fit-as-a-fiddle, semi-retired man has been in hospital since it happened, on the Labour Day long weekend. And he’ll wait another few days before transferring to Royal Columbian Hospital for the open heart surgery.

“I’ve done a lot of soul searching,” he says. “But mostly I want to thank all of these people who took care of me. All these people were there at the right place, at the right time.”

And he hopes people who, like him, spend time in the great outdoors, take the time to learn CPR and first aid techniques.

“If anybody is active in sports and outdoor activities, especially activities away from services, it’s to your advantage to learn first aid,” he says.

Post-surgery, he will require a recovery program. When he’s feeling better, Chris says he won’t be slowing down. He’s even planning an African safari next year.

And when the time does come, he says, there’s little he hasn’t experienced.

What about bungee-jumping?

“I’ve done that, too,” he says.

Signs of a heart attack include:

nSudden pain or discomfort in the chest, neck, jaw, shoulder, arms or back. It may feel like burning, squeezing, heaviness, tightness or pressure and in women, the pain may be more vague. n Difficulty when breathing or shortness of breath. n Nausea, indigestion or vomiting. n Sweaty, cool, or clammy skin. n Fear, anxiety or denial. - Courtesy of the Heart and Stroke Foundation