HARRISON — A man who makes headstones for a living is sure glad his hasn't been carved out yet.

Chris Lane, 46, experienced a medical emergency March 16 while visiting family on the east side of Lake Coeur d'Alene. He began struggling to breathe during an asthmatic episode that turned into a cardiac arrest.

"He didn't actually go into cardiac arrest until one to two minutes after we arrived, which was really helpful for his situation," East Side Fire District Deputy Chief Charlotte Pegoraro said Monday. "We had a unit on scene within two minutes of that initial transition from respiratory failure to cardiac arrest."

Lane's younger sister, Michelle Lumper, performed bystander CPR until the first responders arrived.

"My sister has been working in Spokane at the ER for the last 18 years," Lane said. "If she wasn’t right near me when it happened, I wouldn't be alive. She kept me going for two-plus minutes before everyone from East Side Fire got there. They kept me going for another 13 or 15 minutes. I didn't have a pulse for 15 minutes, but they kept me going. I'm lucky I'm alive."

East Side crew members began CPR with an automated external defibrillator.

"I was able to put in an airway, which we haven’t been able to do in the past," Pegoraro said, adding that recent service and training upgrades made it possible to help save Lane's life.

"It wasn't a cardiac issue that caused this," she said. "Getting that oxygen into his airway was more important than usual."

During a cardiac arrest, the heart abruptly stops because of an electrical malfunction.

"With its pumping action disrupted, the heart cannot pump blood to the brain, lungs and other organs," the American Heart Association states on its website. "Seconds later, a person becomes unresponsive, is not breathing or is only gasping. Death occurs quickly if the person does not receive immediate CPR."

More than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital setting each year. When compressions are immediately performed, the heart is able to continue to pump blood to the brain. Starting CPR within the first 10 minutes of a cardiac arrest may greatly improve the chances for survival and protect brain function, according to the American Heart Association.

Although Lane's sister is a nurse, bystander CPR is easy for anyone to do, Pegoraro said.

"You don't really need a lot of training to do CPR," she said. "They can call 911 and the dispatcher can walk them through the process. People just need to be willing to do it."

Pegoraro said it takes East Side volunteers about 10 minutes to arrive on scene when an emergency occurs in their coverage area.

"It’s bridging that gap between that down time and when emergency services arrive that is so important," she said.

CPR helps the oxygen that's already in the body to continue to circulate, she said.

"I’ve had three patients who had cardiac arrests and have come home and come visit me or call me later," Pegoraro said. "All of them had bystander CPR."

Lane was transported to Kootenai Health via Life Flight and spent five days in the hospital. It took two months for his ribs to heal.

"If you don’t break a few ribs doing CPR you’re not doing it the right way," he said.

He said he is feeling great with a new outlook on life. He said he feels lucky his parents live around the corner from East Side Fire. 

"If it weren't for all those volunteers, there would be houses burned down and people gone," Lane said. "It’s a wonderful thing they all do."

Lane and his family recently visited East Side Fire to say thank you and present the crew with an award that reads in part, "You saved another human life with dedication, skill and courage."

He wants his sister to know he is grateful to her for his life.

"It’s people like you that make the world go round," he said.

INFOBOX
East Side Fire District will host its annual pancake breakfast from 8 to 11:30 a.m. July 5 at its new fire station at 20436 S. Highway 97, Harrison. An open house for its new fire station will be from 4 to 7 p.m. July 26.

    East Side Fire District Deputy Chief Charlotte Pegoraro is pictured May 24 with cardiac arrest survivor Chris Lane, who visited the station with his family to present the volunteer fire district with a Life Saving Award for responding to his medical emergency March 16.