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SIERRA VISTA — Call it serendipity. Call it sheer luck. Whatever you call it, the stars must have been lined up in Ken Kingsley’s favor that September day in Missoula, Mont.
The day after a 720-mile cycling trip that extended from Missoula north into British Columbia, over Logan Pass and back into Missoula, Kingsley and good friend John Wettack were enjoying the scenic town, having completed their road tour two days ahead of schedule.
Then something went terribly wrong.
“We had just finished a short ride around town, and I was in our hotel room putting my bike away, when all at once I collapsed,” Kingsley said.
 Ken Kingsley, right, has his good friend, John Wettack, to thank for giving him life saving CPR which he administered after Kingsley went into cardiac arrest on Sept. 10 in Montana. The avid bicyclists were on a 720 mile biking trip when Kingsley collapsed. The CPR administered by Wettack and a bit of luck helped save Kingsley’s life. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
Kingsley’s heart had just quit. He had stopped breathing and had no pulse.
That’s when Wettack stepped in. He saw his friend crumple to the floor, immediately called for help and started CPR until paramedics arrived.
“They were there within three minutes,” Wettack said. “The emergency responders were great.”
Doctors say Wettack’s knowledge of CPR saved his friend’s life.
“The cardiologist told me that I’m alive today because John had the presence of mind to administer CPR immediately,” Kingsley, 62, said. “He started resuscitation and got the paramedics to the hotel. Once the paramedics took over, they hit me with the defibrillation paddles and rushed me to the hospital.”
The incident — called “sudden death syndrome” — left both men reflecting Kingsley’s good fortune that day.
“I was so lucky,” said Kingsley a 40-year cyclist with no history of heart problems. “Especially when you figure, just a couple of days before this happened, we were out in the middle of nowhere, camping in completely isolated country. If something like this had to happen to me, there were a combination of circumstances that were miraculous.”
Not only was Kingsley fortunate to be in the company of a friend experienced in CPR, but Missoula has a top cardiac hospital, St. Patrick Hospital International Heart Institute, located less than a mile from the hotel where the two men were staying. Along with the hospital staff, both Kingsley and Wettack extend accolades to Missoula’s paramedic firemen for their role in saving Kingsley’s life.
“Luckily, Missoula has a cardiac hospital that is second to none,” Kingsley said. “Doctors discovered an electrical impulse problem, called ventricular fibrillation. They implanted a defibrillator device in my heart.”
The cardiologist who treated Kingsley in Missoula is the State Masters Road Biking Champion for Montana, another coincidence in the list of circumstances.
As someone who shares Kingsley’s passion for biking, he advised his patient on how to ease back into road touring. While Kingsley plans to start biking again, he was told to take a month off to give his heart a chance to recover.
“Doctors told me that 99 percent of people would not have survived this, or would have suffered serious mental or physical problems,” Kingsley said. “The CPR was one link in the whole chain of assistance that saved my life.”
The two men, their wives and friends will be enrolling in a CPR class, so they all know the life-saving technique.
“This has been a valuable lesson for all of us,” Wettack said. “Now that this has happened, all my cycling friends are planning to take the class. And I highly recommend it.”
After dragging supplies and gear all over the Rocky Mountains for two weeks with no hint of a problem, Kingsley says he was completely amazed that his heart failed.
There were five cyclists in their group, covering between 50 and 70 miles each day they were on the road. Most days the men camped in tents, in camp grounds and national parks along the route.
“At no point on the trip were we near competent medical care, with the exception of Missoula,” Wettack recalled. “It’s an incredible stroke of luck that we were back in town two days earlier than we expected to be. This whole incident was beyond luck. It was absolutely miraculous.”
After learning of her husband’s heart attack, Kingsley’s wife, Ursula, left Sierra Vista for Missoula, where she joined her husband until he was released from the hospital. The couple spent time in the town, enjoying its shops, mountains and scenic beauty.
“I have a lot to be grateful for,” Kingsley said. “Not only was I at the right place at the right time, but I was literally brought back from the dead.”
Herald/Review health reporter Dana Cole can be reached at 515-4618 or by e-mail at dana.cole@svherald.com.
Ken Kingsley wrote on Sep 26, 2008 6:02 PM: