Dustin Swanson Dies And Comes Back To Life

August 14th, 2018 was an ordinary day for Dustin Swanson.

SWANSON: It was a Tuesday. Not unlike every other Tuesday. I woke up I went to work. I had a break in my day. 

So he drove over to his gym to take a class. 

SWANSON: It was a benchmark day that we were going to try and run a mile at a goal time. 

SFX: SWANSON DEMONSTRATES GETTING ON THE TREADMILL

SWANSON: It's very complicated. So it says start. So you press start. And there's a nice little fan here that goes on you. And then you adjust your speed and your incline up or down depending on the level of resistance you want...Got on the treadmill and that's it.

That’s the last moment he remembered before dying.

This is 2 Lives. I’m Laurel Morales.

Dustin gets to class 10 minutes early and selects treadmill number seven. 

WINTERS: (Slowly ramp up SFX: Treadmill) …We walk it on so in our warm up we do 3.5 to 5 mph just to warm up the body.

Cierra Winters is a fitness coach at a gym where everyone wears a heart rate monitor, and your name and heart rate go up on a big screen for the whole class to see.

WINTERS ON THE TREADMILL: So our base base is our green zone. It’s our active recovery. 

So she demonstrates they’re going for the green zone or base pace. That’s a light jog you could maintain for a while. Cierra has been coaching Dustin for several months.

WINTERS: We kind of heckle each other and were sarcastic with each other.

Half of the class is on treadmills and the other half is on the weight floor. Dustin is warming up on a treadmill, when a friend next to him notices him start to slump over and grab the handrails. He smacks his face on the machine and the treadmill pushes him off. 

Cierra is working with the group of people lifting weights when she hears a big thud. (Overlap thud with ACT)

WINTERS:  I hear a big thud you know, and someone screams help.

Cierra sees Dustin’s head crammed under the treadmill. So she turns off the music, runs over and asks what happened?

WINTERS: I hear someone say he's not breathing anymore. So at that point, I yell out to the girl at the front desk. And I said, Call 911.

On the screen Cierra could see Dustin’s heart rate dropping. So she throws her headset off and starts chest compressions.

WINTERS: And all I can remember from that day was telling myself, ‘go deep enough,’ cuz they always say, you gotta break the ribs and the sternum to really get the full depth of the heart… I know, I was terrified. PAUSE But I also remember thinking, you know, it's, it's me, like I'm the one who has to fix this, you know, And as soon as they said he's not breathing, I mean, I was like this is it. This is what I have trained for. But I just remember thinking, you know, it's me, I got to do it. PAUSE…I actually straddled him because he's such a big guy and I'm such a small girl and I was just putting my entire body weight into it.

WINTERS: Adrenaline definitely kept me pumping for sure.

MORALES: Yeah, I can imagine. Were you shaking? WINTERS: I don’t remember during.I kind of blacked out. I had someone also clapping their hands to the beat of saving a life because that's how you're supposed to do your compressions. And staying alive MORALES: Staying alive. WINTERS: Staying alive! Obviously not my era. But they were clapping so I could stay on beat so it really was a team effort. 

Even though there was a retired nurse in class that day that could have relieved Cierra, she just kept going for three, four, five, six minutes… until the ambulance arrived and the EMTs took over. Six minutes is a long time to be pounding on someone’s chest.

WINTERS: And then a cop pulled me into the office and was just like, ‘you know, are you okay?’ And I just looked at him I go, ‘I mean, I'll be okay when he's okay.’ And I just sat there. And he kind of just waited with me. And it took a while, it took a few few shocks to get him to come to, you know. I just remember them coming in and saying, we got a heartbeat. And at that point, that's when I just started bawling.

SWANSON: The last memory I had was getting onto the treadmill. And then the next memory I have is waking up in the hospital. I remember my wife being there. And she told me what had happened and I didn't believe it. Because, I felt so great. I’d really gotten into good shape the last year. So it was I was shocked to say the least. 

He was only 38.

SWANSON: Thirty eight year olds don't have heart attacks!

He had a blockage in his left anterior descending artery, which is a lot of times referred to as the Widowmaker. It's a serious blockage to have. 

Dustin didn’t get it. He was healthy, in shape, didn’t smoke or drink, even had low cholesterol. It had something to do with the way his body absorbed cholesterol. He learned his paternal grandfather had a similar incident at 40 but lived to be 85.

In addition to the heart attack Dustin had seven broken ribs and a broken cheekbone.

First, they took care of his heart and put in a stent. Dustin, who sells medical equipment, explains how an artery is like a garden hose.

SWANSON: Imagine a garden hose that has a bunch of dirt on the inside of it. And obviously, the water is going to be restricted. Well, you've got to get water through there. And so it's a little device that almost looks like a slinky sort of, and that you roll it down and slide it up, and then deploy it. And it buttresses out.

The doctors put Dustin into a medically induced coma with a tube down his throat to help him breathe. Then the following day they flew him down to Phoenix the following day to put in a defibrillator, a device that sends an electric pulse or shock to the heart to restart it. Then a surgeon fixed his face and he had a couple weeks recovering from the broken ribs. But in the end what really hurt was Dustin’s pride.

SWANSON: This was truly like a near death experience. I truly was dead for seven minutes. You know, it's very humbling, to say the least. PAUSE So on one hand, it's given me this tremendous appreciation for every day that I get to wake up.  And then after that, it kind of settled into why this has to happen to me? 

Dustin’s doctors warned him depression was common after a heart attack. It strikes 40 percent of patients. Dustin’s wife told him she didn’t recognize him.

SWANSON: There were nights where I'd come home, and she’d just looked at me and start crying.

So his wife, who did not wish to be interviewed, convinced him to go to counseling.

SWANSON: I never got to see what I look like in the hospital bed. But to think about the way my wife has described me and her looking at me, it's just it's really I hesitate to say appreciate them any more. Because I don't know if that's possible.

He said counseling helped his marriage and his individual outlook. Dustin has a very high paced job.

SWANSON: I’m always go, go, go go… My wife and I are fairly Type A individuals and there's always a short term goal, a long term goal, a five year plan, a three year plan, an amended seven year plan that that feeds into the ultimate 10 year plan so that was the first thing that I had to address. Right. And so like it changed my outlook right then.

At least for a little while. After only four weeks Dustin returned to the gym.

DUSTIN: About one month to the day.

He set it as a goal to stave off depression.

SWANSON:  Well, I can choose to be scared of that. Part of my recovery was not that.

The three of us met up at the gym... Dustin’s coach Cierra met up with Dustin to talk about confronting his fear.

WINTERS: Facing it and just being back in it instead of avoiding it. That definitely helps. SWANSON: I run on treadmill seven whenever I can. The one that tried to kill me. WINTERS: Lucky number seven. That’s what we call it. SWANSON: It is my lucky number ironically. WINTERS: It was that day cuz you’re here. SWANSON: That’s true.

I asked Dustin what he said to Cierra when he first saw her.

SWANSON: I hope I said thank you.

WINTERS: He kind of tiptoed in and looked at me like I was going to freak out and had a meltdown from seeing him again. And I just walked up, we had a big ol hug, you know, and he's like, are you okay? Like, I was afraid to come. I didn't want to mess up your teaching. I thought you'd be too rattled. And I'm actually very surprised I wasn't rattled at all. I was just happy to see him.

MORALES: Anything you want to say?

SWANSON: Thank you. It’s not enough but thank you.

Now Dustin just has to pace himself. Dustin’s doctor and wife have helped him set thresholds so he doesn’t push himself too hard.

SWANSON: We don't want you above here until this date. And so that way it was it was calculated because I have a hard time checking my ego. when I come to the gym and so that’s been an area of growth too with this. That’s probably why humbling is the first word.

He’s humbled but he’s also living his life even bigger now. 

SWANSON: I’ve returned back to doing everything that I did before and more I've actually increased my intensity with certain things. I snowboard, so I snowboard a little bit harder now. Not recklessly but I don't know I want I feel good because Cierra's got me in good shape. But yeah, why not live for today?

And if he needs it he does have a defibrillator to jumpstart his heart…

SWANSON: If it ever needs to it never has so I don't know what it feels like. I asked my cardiologist I said, Well, how do I know? He said, Well, have you ever been kicked in the chest by a horse? Obviously, I haven't. But I told him I got his point.

This is 2 Lives. I’m Laurel Morales.

This episode was produced and hosted by me. Annie Galloway creates original illustrations for each show. You can see them at 2 lives dot org or our social sites. Find us at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @2LivesPodcast. And if you like the show please leave a review or rating at Apple Podcasts. Some people have asked how they can support 2 Lives. Go to 2 Lives dot org to find a link to see all the ways you can support us. And thank you! A version of this episode first aired on KJZZ’s 2 Lives in November of 2020.