While competing in a 1,500-meter triathlon swim in the Hudson River in August, Chris LaPak, 52, experienced sudden cardiac arrest. A Herculean rescue effort ensued, with first responders moving him quickly from a surfboard to a jet ski to a boat and finally to a pier. Attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) failed, leaving Mr. LaPak—the president of a pharmaceutical printing company—without a pulse for at least nine minutes before he was finally resuscitated with an automated-external defibrillator.
Upon arrival at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Cardiac Care Unit, Mr. LaPak had been given a 5 percent chance of survival and worse odds in regaining normal brain function. But under the supervision of Eyal Herzog, MD, Director of the Cardiac Care Unit and Echocardiography Laboratories, he underwent a life-saving treatment called therapeutic hypothermia. With this procedure, the patient’s body is cooled to preserve brain function and protect other vital organs.
Just hours after the three-day treatment was completed, Mr. LaPak awoke with normal brain function. He recalls being able to count backward from 100 by sevens after he came to.
“I have never received such care as I did at St. Luke’s. It was amazing,” he says. “It was almost like I had my own team supporting me to keep me alive. I won’t go anywhere but there now.”
Mount Sinai St. Luke’s has practiced therapeutic hypothermia since 2008, and Dr. Herzog has been one of its earliest pioneers. He is credited with establishing national protocols for the procedure.
Therapeutic hypothermia is a complicated therapy that requires continuous attention to detail and well-integrated collaboration across disciplines. Stephan Danik, MD, MSc, Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory, also cared for Mr. LaPak, as well as the team that performed a double coronary artery bypass graft through open heart surgery, and placed an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator to prevent his heart from stopping again.
“Had Chris had this event ten years ago, no one would have provided this therapy,” says Dr. Herzog, who is also Associate Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “He benefited from the expertise we obtained over the years that extended to an even rarer arrhythmia known as asystole that he experienced.”
On Sunday, November 9, Mr. LaPak, his wife, and their two grown children, reunited with the first responders, doctors, and medical staff who helped save his life at a celebration at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s. Now back to his normal exercise routine of running and swimming each week, he says his sights are set on participating in the 2015 Chicago and New York marathons.
“I feel great,” says Mr. LaPak. “I’m negotiating with my wife and Dr. Herzog to compete in a triathlon. I’m not going to stop now.”