Heart Attack Survivor Gets Parade From Family, Friends
Heart Attack Survivor Gets Parade From Family, Friends
Posted
Amanda Bridgman-abridgman@timesuniononline.com
Heart Attack Survivor Gets Parade From Family, FriendsWINONA LAKE – Eric Zolman, a bicyclist who logged 1,000 miles in July, suffered a heart attack in the middle of the night Aug. 10.
According to Parkview doctors in Fort Wayne, he wasn’t supposed to survive.
But he did. And on Thursday a surprise drive-by parade consisting of Winona Lake Fire Department fire trucks, along with Zolman’s friends and family and fellow cyclists, cruised by his house to wish him well and say hello.
“This has been a great time,” Zolman said after the parade. He said he’s feeling a lot better, but he’s still got a long way to go.
Nancy, his wife, said on Aug. 10 she woke up around 12:45 a.m. – something she attributes to no other reason than God – and found her husband was “gone, with no heartbeat.”
Nancy has suffered a heart attack herself, and she called 911.
The 911 dispatcher helped walk Nancy through what to do and told her how to do the chest compressions on her husband. So, Nancy did, but to avail. That’s when WLFD first responders showed up. They tried to revive Eric, too, but when they loaded him into the ambulance to take him to the hospital, he still had no heartbeat.
On Aug. 12, Eric had a quadruple bypass surgery, and by the following Monday he had a defibrillator put in and was released the following day, his daughter, Karrie Spore, said.
Doctors told the Zolmans less than 5% of people survive a heart attack like that at home.
Spore said heart attacks run in the family – Eric’s father suffered the same fate but didn’t have the outcome Eric did, she said.
Mike Cox, WLFD public information officer, helped lead the parade and said the department was happy to do the parade and “we’re happy that he’s home so quickly.”
The Zolmans credit God with watching over Eric. As for Eric, he spreads that credit around: “I’m lucky to be here thanks to my beautiful wife.”
