A walking, talking miracle

Experiencing death, then coming back to life to tell the tale is not a common occurrence. For those lucky few who have, it can rearrange priorities and give them a new perspective on their life. Such is the case with Smelterville resident and nurse, Don White Jr.

White experienced a normally fatal type of heart attack on May 8, and without the help of family members, medical staff — and perhaps a bit of spiritual intervention — he would not be here today.

That day started out fairly mundane. Don Jr. and his wife, Shauna, had plans to help his father, Don Sr., with filling some potholes at his residence in Kingston that Tuesday morning.

Understandably, Don Jr. remembers only bits and pieces of this day, but much of those bits came from that morning.

The couple traveled to Kingston around 9 a.m. and began to work on filling the holes. He vaguely remembers working on the project with his wife, but details are sketchy. Everything else except the moment of the heart attack was told to Don Jr. by people who were with him.

After the holes had been filled, Don Jr. told his father that he was in pain.

“I just wanted to lay down,” he said. “I didn’t feel good, my chest hurt.”

Don Sr. could tell that something was wrong with his son and knew what to do.

“My dad had a string of heart attacks before he had stints put in last year and he gave me a nitro (nitroglycerin).”

Over time, Don Jr. was feeling a bit better, but he still wanted to go home and rest. It was on the way home from Kingston on Silver Valley Road between Pinehurst and Smelterville that it hit.

“I guess I started having real bad chest pain again, clinging to my chest saying ‘ow, ow, ow,’” Don Jr. said. “Then all at once I coded, my heart stopped, I stopped breathing.”

The attack caused him to lose consciousness. With no way to control his movements, he slumped forward and hit his head on the front dash — breaking his nose in the process.

Shauna, who also works in nursing with Don Jr., recognized what had happened and knew that quick action was needed to save her husband.

“My thinking was, ‘OK, we’re here (on the road). I need to get here (the hospital) in a matter of seconds.’ So I basically went 100 plus miles-an-hour on the back road to the hospital.”

She pulled over for a moment to move Don Jr. off her, then she drove as fast as she could to Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg while holding him up in his seat.

Upon arrival at SMC, medical personnel assessed his condition and found that he was unresponsive. Don Jr. was rushed to the emergency room where Dr. Robyn Hitchcock was on duty.

Dr. Hitchcock and assisting medical staff hooked Don Jr. up to a defibrillator and began lifesaving measures. After three hits there was still no pulse. Dr. Hitchcock wasn’t about to give up though and shocked him two more times.

Five jolts and 19 minutes after the beginning of treatment, Don Jr. was back from the dead.

According to Don Jr., who has been in the nursing field for roughly 12 years, more than three hits from the defibrillator is uncommon.

“Usually, they don’t hit you more than three times with the defibrillator before they call it,” he explained. “She was just diligent, man. She just wasn’t giving up on me for whatever reason.”

With his heart pumping again, Dr. Hitchcock decided that he was not stable enough because they could not ascertain how bad the damage was. Don Jr. was then taken by ambulance to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene.

Following several tests, it was determined that he experienced a “widowmaker” type heart attack. This is an informal term for a heart attack that involves a 100 percent blockage in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery.

When you look at the odds of surviving this type of attack, one can truly appreciate the incredible nature of this story.

“Six percent of the people who have a widowmaker who get CPR within the first 3-4 minutes survive,” Don Jr. said. “So I’m literally a walking, talking miracle.”

Not only is it great that he survived, but it’s also incredible that he did not suffer any brain damage either.

Once it was determined to be a widowmaker, the decision was immediately made to conduct a triple bypass.

The surgery was a success, even with Don Jr. causing a bit of a stir after it was complete.

“I guess I was quite rowdy coming out of anesthesia the first time, so they put me in a medically induced coma for four days and cooled me down to 85 degrees.”

It took four people to hold him down during this episode and he had to be tied to the bed to keep him from pulling tubes out.

Looking back on it all now, Don Jr. gives the credit of saving his life to all the family and medical workers involved; but also to God himself.

“I believe that I was spared by God. I do remember being dead. I actually literally remember being in heaven. It was like I was there instantly. There was no light or tunnel or anything like that, it was just instantaneous that I was there. Rolling green hills, beautiful trees, it looked like fall with the colors of the trees. I remember feeling like I was flying almost. I heard the voice of Jesus saying ‘this one is covered under my blood,’ and I heard God say ‘yes, but it’s not yet his time.’ And just like that I was back.”

In the time since the attack, Don Jr. has had a rough time in rehabilitation. He has been working hard to reduce his weight and manage his pain, not to mention also dealing with several bouts of bronchitis and possibly a new case of pneumonia.

Once he has regained a little more of his strength and gets over this most recent bout of pneumonia, though, he plans to enroll in SMC’s cardiac rehabilitation program to get back to working shape.

Both he and his wife have worked for Remain at Home Health Care for a little over a year now and take care of clients they have in the Silver Valley.