A year ago, Dillon resident Ed Perry’s heart stopped three times. Each time, first responders managed to revive it – saving his life against the odds.
As Ed’s wife, Anne Perry, tells it, Monday, June 19, 2023, was a day much like any other in Dillon. The sound of the town’s free summer concert series carried over the Dillon Reservoir to the Timberline Condominiums as they barbecued that evening.
“I pretty much thought I was invincible,” Ed said.
At 63, Ed was active and went to the gym every day of the week. Earlier that day he had been out working on his pontoon boat. So, when his shoulder was a little sore that night and he had some heartburn, he thought nothing of it.
After dinner, Anne and her two brothers – who were in town to attend to affairs after their sister died of a heart attack three weeks earlier – went down to the Dillon Amphitheater to enjoy the show. Ed stayed behind.
When Anne and her brothers returned to the condo, Ed was already in bed. But as Anne and her brothers prepared to go to sleep themselves, Anne suddenly noticed that something wasn’t right.
Ed was snoring intensely – almost snorting – in his sleep. If not for a conversation Anne had a couple weeks back, she said she might have ignored Ed and went to bed. But luckily, a friend recently told her a story about a woman whose husband had a heart attack and made some really weird noises – known as agonal breathing – before dying.
Agonal breathing is a type of abnormal breathing characterized by snorting, gurgling and sometimes strange vocalizations. It is usually a sign of a severe medical emergency.
“It’s not really breathing at all,” Anne said. “The brain is getting no oxygen. And, on a typical day, if I didn’t hear that story, I would have been like ‘You’re snoring. You’re annoying. I’ll go in the other room.’ ”
But Anne said from Ed’s breathing she knew instantly to call 911. Less than two minutes later, two police officers arrived.
“They came in like NFL players and cleared the field. Threw everything on the bed. All the equipment, defibrillators,” Anne said. “He flatlined three times. So they kept bringing him back.”
At one point at least a dozen first responders were gathered around Ed in the small bedroom of the condominium, taking turns performing CPR, Anne said.
“What is just so shocking,” she said, “is they just didn’t call it, didn’t give up.”
‘Chain of survival’
Dillon Police Officer Dana Degraaf was still an officer in training when the Echo medical alert – an alert indicating a life-threatening medical emergency – came in, dispatching him to the Timberline Condominiums.
In fact, Monday, June 19, 2023 was Degraaf’s first day ever as a trainee at the Dillon Police Department. Ed Perry’s heart attack was the first call he ever responded to.
“I got on scene and within like 30 seconds found the individual – Ed – not breathing,” Degraaf said. “No pulse. No heartbeat. He was on the floor, and one of his family members was performing CPR.”
Degraaf and former Dillon Police Field Training Officer Chris Scherr, who recently left the department to work for a state agency, immediately cut off Ed’s clothes and began administering CPR. When two attached the shock pads of an Automatic External Defibrillator, or AED, to Ed’s chest, the machine said, “shock advised.”
After the shock, Ed’s pulse returned, Degraaf said. He and Scherr continued performing CPR but seconds later Ed’s pulse disappeared again.
By this time, a third officer had arrived on scene and Summit Fire & EMS personnel were pulling up in an ambulance and fire engines. Firefighter-paramedic Ross Orton said that he arrived just minutes after police.
“Two minutes before we received the page at Station 8 in Dillon, we heard a patrol car go by with sirens,” Orton said. “They were going to the exact same scene. Less than two minutes later, we get paged out.”
Orton and other EMS responders were able to get Ed hooked up to a heart monitor. The medics initiated a second shock – which again restored Ed’s heart to a natural rhythm.
But then, Ed’s heart slipped into an abnormal rhythm where for the third time that night. Recognizing the abnormal rhythm as a rare rhythm known as ‘torsades de pointes,’ Orton said the medics administered magnesium sulfate and were able to get Ed’s heart pumping again.
In all, medical personnel were on scene for 18 minutes and it took 9 minutes to transport Ed to St. Anthony Summit Hospital, Orton said. From there, Flight for Life flew Ed down to a hospital in Denver, where doctors put a stent in his heart.
Orton noted all the people involved in the “chain of survival,” a metaphor describing all the interdependent actions that a community takes to respond to cardiac arrest. From Anne, who called 911 right away, to Degraaf and Scherr, who first arrived on scene, to the fire and EMS personnel, who assisted with CPR, to the nurse who treated Ed on the helicopter – so many people contributed to saving Ed’s life.
“Ed had all the chains perfectly lined up which led to his survival with no neuro deficits,” Orton said. “His family members performed CPR. They started right away. Recognized he had no pulse, wasn’t breathing. Called 911 right away.”
‘Slow down and just enjoy life’
When Ed woke up from a medically induced coma in the hospital three days later, he didn’t know where he was.
But on Friday, June 23, Ed walked out the hospital on his own two feet. His memory remained somewhat foggy for another several weeks, but as it came back he said he felt an overwhelming sense of appreciation for life.
“I take a lot more time talking to people now. Before I was always busy,” Ed said. “I didn’t take the time to sit and listen to somebody and talk to them and just appreciate being alive. So that’s a big change for me. Before I’d just be moving on to the next thing. Now, I slow down and just enjoy life.”
With a new outlook, Ed said he wanted to thank the first responders who helped save his life. So, Ed and Anne wrote Summit Fire & EMS and the Dillon Police Department expressing their deepest gratitude.
But that wasn’t enough. So, Ed arranged to meet with the Dillon Police Department and Summit Fire & EMS to thank them in person.
Orton said it is a rare experience for first responders to be reunited with the people whose lives they save. In a job that involves witnessing a lot of trauma, he said it can be uplifting to be reminded of those rescues that do have happy outcomes.
“He’s full of life. He’s smiling. He’s an emotional guy,” Orton said of Ed. “He got teary eyed when he talked about being excited to come back up (to Summit County) this summer and go boating on Lake Dillon.”
How to get CPR certified
American Red Cross CPR certification classes take just a few short hours, but teach skills that could save someones life. The Red Cross offers in-person, online and blended learning classes for those looking to become CPR certified or who simply want to learn how to respond in the event of an emergency.
Visit RedCross.org/take-a-class to find a nearby class.
Sudden cardiac arrest – the abrupt loss of heart function – is a leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Red Cross. Sudden cardiac arrest causes between 300,000 and 450,000 deaths in the U.S.
Nationally, only about 10% of people who experience sudden cardiac arrest survive. But since Summit Fire & EMS personnel started intensive CPR training called “high-performance CPR” five years ago, Orton said the survival rate locally has risen to 27%, or more than 1 in 4 surviving.
Last spring, the American Red Cross awarded Summit Fire & EMS and the Dillon Police Department its Lifesaving Hero Organizations Hero of the Year award for saving Ed’s life
Happy to be alive, Ed said he felt compelled to take a CPR class so that he could help save someone else’s life, if he ever had to. Both he and Anne are now CPR certified and, with plans to retire, Ed said he plans to spend the next chapter of his life as a CPR instructor, helping others become certified.
Last weekend, ahead of the one year anniversary of his heart attack, Ed and Anne had their 28-year-old son and 30-year-old daughter over to visit. The family took the pontoon boat out across the reservoir to the Frisco Bay Marina for a Father’s Day lunch.
Ed said he thinks everyday about the chain of people – including those he’ll never get to thank in-person, like the nurse on the helicopter or the dispatcher on the other end of the 911 call with Anne – who helped save his life.
“When you think about it and go all the way through the whole chain, it’s just amazing,” Ed said. “You just have all these skilled people that are all humble. They’re there to help you. They don’t even know you.”
