Healthy 65-year-old's heart stopped on her way to work — two passing women knew exactly what to do to save her life
When it comes to emergencies, the only thought on everyone’s mind is to bring the person to safety. While precautions toward health can be a great initiative, one can’t ensure they will be free from mishaps or unexpected life-threatening situations. A 63-year-old woman named Merryl Hoffman faced a similar experience, per CBS News. Despite doing everything to look after her health and be fit and fine, she randomly collapsed on her way to work. With no one except strangers huddling around to figure out what happened, she was in dire need of help. Fortunately, 2 women passing by the route came to her aid and it was just what she needed.
Hoffman had been looking after herself well. However, she was previously diagnosed with a leaky mitral valve and underwent surgery for it. When that went well, she continued to take good care of herself, visiting doctors and getting checkups frequently. Despite it all, when she was on her way to work back on October 23, 2024, she suddenly collapsed. The only people around her were strangers who were also on their way to work. Hoffman suffered a severe cardiac arrest, causing her heart to stop beating.
There are several instances of people having a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, according to Heart.org. Unfortunately, only 40% of these people receive immediate help to increase their chances of survival. Fortunately, for Hoffman, she collapsed right outside the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Breast and Imaging Center. She was initially attended to by two passersby to check what had happened. Soon after, nurses Sabrina Castle and Gianna Formisano arrived on the scene. The duo was headed to the center to begin their day’s work, but before they could walk in, they came across unconscious Hoffman.
Before they knew what was happening, the people around them were already directing them towards the 63-year-old. "We were so shocked. When we were walking up, people were like, 'Nurses, nurses!' We didn't know what we were walking into. People were grabbing our coffee and taking our bags. It was out of a movie, the way that they were like, 'Oh, thank God you're here,’” Formisano recalled. The duo immediately got to work. One of them asked the bystanders to call the ambulance while the other started administering CPR to Hoffman. They couldn’t find a pulse initially as the woman had hit her head when she fell. However, with persistence, they managed to get her heart beating again. According to Dr. Jessica Hennessey, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, that’s just what was required.
She mentioned that early CPR can increase chances of survival by "at least two or threefold" in such cases. The ambulance arrived and took Hoffman to the hospital, where she eventually recovered. When the duo went to check on Hoffman’s condition, a nurse told them, “You got her back. She's intubated, she's alive, you saved her life.” Hoffman is crediting the nurses for arriving at the right place in due time. "Without them, I was told, there was no doubt I would have died or been brain dead. They absolutely saved my life,” she remarked.