BALTIMORE — Susan Wessels and her son, Christopher, know just how vital knowing CPR is. They have his very life to thank for it.
Three years ago, at just 26 years old, Christopher suffered from sudden cardiac arrest while out surfing in California with friends.
Unbeknownst to him, the Maryland native has a rare genetic heart condition known as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy or ARVC, where exercise can damage the heart’s structures and cause scar tissue to form.
“I had no idea,” he said. “That was, like, the best shape of my life at that time.”
He had been active, surfing, snowboarding, hiking. A month prior, he had run a half-marathon.
“It blindsided all of us,” Mom Susan said.
“It happens more often than we think. We know 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of a hospital every year,” Christina Price, senior director of development with the Greater Maryland Heart Walk, said. “Nine out of 10 people who suffer a cardiac event outside of a hospital system unfortunately don't make it.”
But for Christopher, his friends Shayla Bauer and Jeffrey Weber were there and quickly jumped into action, bringing him to shore and immediately calling 911 and starting hands-only chest compressions.
Weber recalls a high school lesson on CPR and an episode of The Office clicking into place amid the panic.
“I heard the words ‘ah, ah, ah, staying alive’ and the Bee Gees flowed into my brain,” Weber said. "It helped me out a lot."
“It sounds quirky and silly, but my God, it saved my son,” Susan said.
Weber then wrote his own song, “Keep Pace”, about the ordeal to process the trauma of the day. He says he’s grateful Christopher wasn’t alone going out into the water then.
The incident landed Christopher in the hospital for a lengthy stay, followed by an even lengthier recovery process. He had to relearn the very basics from reading to walking.
“When I look back, wow, like, it's amazing that he survived. They called him a miracle out there as well,” Susan said.
“You don't have to be a police officer or a paramedic or a firefighter to save somebody's life,” he said.
He eventually moved back home, as Johns Hopkins Hospital was one of a few places with the right specialists he needed to see. He's also got a souvenir of sorts: a new heart-shaped scar on the back of his head. Something Susan calls “divine intervention.”
They’ll be joining Saturday’s walk at the Greater Maryland Heart Walk at Camden Yards Sports Complex for the first time, hoping his story inspires others to learn.
The event will feature a new “Survivor Central” where survivors of heart disease and stroke can get a cap and commemorative pin as well as beat the drum “to mimic their own heartbeat”. There will also be on-site CPR training.
“We want you to be the first line of survival for folks and to be confident so that you can act,” Price said.
More than half a million Marylanders have been trained in hands-only CPR, and the group is working to make sure that number is higher every year.
The walk begins at 10 a.m. on October 10.
