Pa. mother grateful to recognize Heart Month after experiencing Broken Heart Syndrome
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A young mother is grateful to recognize Heart Month having survived a life-threatening episode of Broken Heart Syndrome.
Doctors said the exact cause of Broken Heart Syndrome is unclear but it's usually tied to a stressful emotional event.
"All I remember is getting really hot and my husband fanning me," Shai Gray said. "I kept telling him I was having a panic attack."
That was moments before 28-year-old Gray passed out in cardiac arrest. Fortunately, she was in the emergency department at St. Luke's Hospital, where her son was being treated for a dog bite.
"He needed 12 stitches," she said.
And she was also emotionally distraught after losing her beloved grandmother.
"It was all traumatic," Gray said. "I felt stressed and very emotional."
Doctors said her cardiac arrest was caused by Broken Heart Syndrome.
"And in her case, it caused an acute life-threatening rhythm disturbance," Dr. Darren Traub, of St Luke's Hospital, said.
Broken Heart Syndrome can happen when emotionally stressful events trigger a surge in stress hormones that can "stun" the heart when it does not pump properly or an artery goes into spasm.
"My heart was stopped for a total of five minutes and 34 seconds, that's what the hospital report says," Gray said.
"In essence she was dead," Traub said. "When you have a cardiac arrest, you're getting no blood flow to your brain."
Traub said the medical team at the hospital was able to quickly perform CPR and shocked her heart back to life.
"With good CPR it can take five, 10, even up to 20 minutes to restore a pulse and you can still escape with complete function of your heart, your brain, your organs," Traub said.
"I'm glad I was where I was when it happened," Gray said.
She lives in Schuylkill County and said this Heart Month will be extra special for her family and six children.
"I am grateful to be alive for my children," Gray said.
Doctors said incidents from Broken Heart Syndrome are rare and when treated quickly most people survive.
