Ken and Nicky Walsh credit their dog Indiana with saving Ken's life
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. - When every second counted, an out-of-character behavior by the family dog meant the difference between life and death for a New Jersey man.
The Walsh family wanted to share their story to let the world know positive outcomes are possible after cardiac arrest – especially when you have Indiana the dog your side.
Indiana, a nearly 4-year-old Australian shepard mix, is named after Indiana Jones. She loves to play, occasionally barks, and loves to offer kisses.
Her pet parents Ken and Nicky Walsh shower her with love and treats. In fact, they said for the past few years, she gets the royal treatment because they credit her with saving Ken's life in February of 2020. Indiana was just 6 months old then.
While Nicky prepared for work, Indiana did something unusual.
"I heard her growl. She doesn't growl," Nicky said.
She looked at Ken and noticed him making funny faces – thought at first perhaps man and man's best friend were playing.
"This is not play," she realized. "Something is wrong."
Nicky immediately called 911, but did not know CPR. Ken started to turn blue. EMS arrived.
"If it hadn't been getting my attention in that moment, it would have been minutes before I realized something happened," Nicky said.
At the hospital, doctors induced a coma and set Ken up with a defibrillator and pacemaker. Ken lived through cardiac arrest at 31.
"What? Me?" he said he thought when he came to.
Ken says up until that defining moment he lived a normal life, running five or six miles a day with no symptoms. Doctors never found a cause.
"It's pretty rare in medicine that we can't find the cause of something at the end of the day," said Dr. Eugenia Gianos, director of cardiovascular prevention at Northwell Health.
Gianos says, fortunately for Ken, treatment exists. CBS2's Vanessa Murdock asked her if every healthy 31-year-old should consider testing.
"The reality is that if you have in your family a lot of heart disease happening at an early age, then yes you should be getting extensive testing," Gianos said. "For the rest of the world, at least knowing all your risk factors for heart disease."
Those risk factors include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
So what should you do in an emergency?
"Call 911. Time is health," said Diego Ortiz of the American Heart Association. "Begin chest compressions, hard and fast to the center of the chest. That may just be enough to save a life."
For the Walshes, Indiana offered the first lifeline.
"She saves his life. I don't think there's an accurate word to describe... there's really no amount of thankfulness, of love you can convey that way," Nicky and Ken said.
The Walshes say to this day the only time Indiana growls is when something is wrong.
