{"id":222781,"date":"2024-12-18T07:01:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T12:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=222781"},"modified":"2024-12-18T09:47:43","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T14:47:43","slug":"i-was-dead-how-a-perfectly-timed-tennis-match-saved-a-farmington-mans-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/12\/i-was-dead-how-a-perfectly-timed-tennis-match-saved-a-farmington-mans-life\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Was Dead\u2019: How a Perfectly Timed Tennis Match Saved a Farmington Man\u2019s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI was dead,\u201d exclaims Norm Kilcomons, 74, of Farmington. He collapsed suddenly on the tennis court at the Farmington Club on Sept. 5 during a game of doubles tennis. \u201cI\u2019m glad to be alive!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent over two weeks at UConn Health, but I don\u2019t remember anything, including the day my heart stopped,\u201d he says. \u201cUConn Health saved my life, and even had me on ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norm had zero symptoms before his heart suddenly stopped. He didn\u2019t know he had developed two major heart artery blockages.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been playing tennis at the Farmington Club as a member for over 40 years since 1980. He has always been healthy and active as an avid athlete, having previously played football, basketball, and baseball. In addition to tennis, he has a longtime love for skiing, whether in Connecticut, Vermont, or Utah.<\/p>\n

That fateful Thursday in early September, the longtime tennis club friends he was playing against – and who helped save his life with CPR – were Don Grayson and Brian Preleski.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so grateful,\u201d says Norm\u2019s wife Charlene. \u201cWe are fortunate as our one friend on the tennis court was actually a sub that day and wasn\u2019t even supposed to be playing there. Both our friends went to work on Norm conducting bystander CPR together right away. We have a whole new level of appreciation for these friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Farmington Police and Fire departments and American Medical Response (AMR) paramedics Brittany Thibault and Klejda Doda responded to the tennis club and applied an AED and zapped Norm\u2019s heart twice to successfully restart it and restore his pulse.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm was then rushed to UConn by ambulance and all the doctors went to work on him right away too,\u201d recalls Charlene.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Kilcomons family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To save his life, Norm needed to be stabilized and have two cardiac stents immediately deployed in the Cardiac Cath Lab of the Calhoun Cardiology Center by interventional cardiologist Dr. JuYong Lee and team in order to open up his heart artery blockages and restore healthy blood flow to his heart and entire body. He had two critical blockages in the arteries of the heart.<\/p>\n

Also, he was placed in a medically-induced coma for several days and doctors leveraged hypothermia therapeutic cooling techniques right away to medically cool his body\u2019s temperature to try and limit any inflammatory response and damage that his time spent in cardiac arrest might cause to his heart, but also other vital organs like his brain.<\/p>\n

UConn John Dempsey Hospital has been leading the way to improve cardiac arrest survival. Last year it was recognized by the national CARES, the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival. For example, last year all of UConn Health\u2019s cardiac arrest survivors were discharged from its hospital, all with full neurological function. For this often deadly and debilitating cardiac event, JDH has a 18.2% survival rate, which is higher than the national and state averages of 13.5%.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm\u2019s health was very fragile. He was in a coma for four days, and on ice,\u201d Charlene recalls. \u201cWhat a team effort,\u201d she says about the medical professionals at UConn Health that responded to help Norm, including doctors and staffers from across emergency medicine, cardiology, the ICU, neurology, pulmonary, along with APRNs and nurses, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was so attentive and caring to Norm, and professional,\u201d Charlene says, recounting the time of their arrival and recalling the care of Dr. Cahill, Dr. JuYong Lee, and Dr. Maxwell Eder. Plus, the care as well by Dr. Supriya Tigadi and Dr. Kumar and countless others.<\/p>\n

And in the ICU the family fell in love particularly with Norm\u2019s nurse, Anna Rejnin, RN.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was incredible, so caring, and on top of every detail,” Charlene says. “She even trimmed Norm\u2019s mustache and eyebrows! Her care and respect for Norm gave us such a good feeling of trust every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Norm
Norm with his wife Charlene and his grandchildren (Photo courtesy of Kilcomons family).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also, even pulmonologist Dr. Omar Ibrahim helped perform a pulmonary procedure on Norm. Charlene remembers how caring and comforting and how much time Ibrahim and so many others took to explain things to her.<\/p>\n

Norm agrees: \u201cUConn did it all right. I don\u2019t have any disabilities after my cardiac arrest. UConn Health did a great job.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t say enough about UConn Health,\u201d says Charlene. \u201cEveryone involved in Norm\u2019s care deserves applause and credit for saving his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI especially remember this case. I am very happy that Norm not only survived, but also neurologically did great after cardiac arrest. It is a miracle story,\u201d says Dr. Juyong Lee of interventional cardiology at UConn Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm is a phenomenal success story which really highlights how far we have come as a field in treating cardiac arrest,” says cardiologist Dr. Maxwell Eder, assistant professor of cardiology at the Calhoun Cardiology Center at UConn Health. “He had immediate bystander CPR, early use of an AED to terminate the lethal heart rhythm he was in, successful treatment of his acute coronary syndrome in the Cath Lab, and excellent post-cardiac arrest care in the ICU including targeted temperature management. All of these factors coalesced to help Norm achieve a great outcome and it has been such a privilege taking part in his care.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHere at UConn Health, we believe care for our patients starts not at our hospital doors, but upon the arrival of our communities\u2019 responders at the patient\u2019s side,\u201d says EMS Coordinator Peter Canning of UConn John Dempsey Hospital. \u201cFrom the moment Norm\u2019s tennis partners began CPR to the first touch by one of our emergency physicians and heart specialists, he was in good hands.\u00a0 Our chain of survival is strong in the Farmington Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlene, Norm, and the Kilcomons family are also grateful to their friends and neighbors.<\/p>\n

\"Kilcomons
Kilcomons family very happily celebrating Christmas together early this December (Photo courtesy of the Kilcomons family).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe felt the powers and the support and results of all the prayers,\u201d Charlene says. She shared her gratitude for the prepared meals at their door, cards, flowers, and offers from neighbors to do even lawn care. She says the continuous care and support from her family, friends, and neighbors was just wonderful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to acknowledge all the others who were incredible during this time,” she says. “All staff at UConn Health from the front door to the floor sweeper, my mother, sisters, and friends for support and keeping us fed! Our children Carli and Kyle, who were just amazingly loving, helpful, and supportive.\u00a0<\/em>I want to give them credit for being by my side and showing such love and devotion to their father.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his recovery, Norm attends his cardiac rehab program at UConn Health three days a week and is looking forward to a very special Christmas with his family, and returning to his love of\u00a0racquet sports, golf, and skiing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm\u2019s story has a miraculous ending, to a terrible event. We\u2019re so grateful!\u201d concludes Charlene.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norm survived cardiac arrest on the tennis court thanks to CPR performed by two friends, and the quick response of the Farmington Police and Fire departments, AMR ambulance paramedics, and the UConn Health multidisciplinary medical team <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":222822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1969,2193,2231,2235,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-222781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiology","category-hartford-county","category-health-well-being","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-29 19:09:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222781"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222825,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222781\/revisions\/222825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/222822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222781"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=222781"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=222781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}