After heart attack, Fort Worth police officer urges others to get CPR & AED training
A Fort Worth police officer who suffered a “widowmaker” heart attack has recovered without any side effects and is urging people to get physicals and learn how to properly use an AED.
Officer Terrence Parker had just finished loading a police vehicle full of recruitment equipment for a Spartan Race in Austin when he felt an icy, tingling sensation in his throat, according to a police news release. He ignored it and moments later fell unconscious on the ground, where he remained clinically dead for about 15 minutes.
It was May 16, and he was in a room at the Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex. A coworker saw Parker’s phone drop on the floor before he fell and knew something was wrong, police said. Fire personnel and police, all of whom had known Parker for more than five years started performing CPR in less than two minutes. Doctors later told him the chest compressions were why he survived.
An automated external defibrillator that also was used in lifesaving measures for three other people in the complex helped bring Parker back, according to police. The AED provided an electrical charge to the heart to restore his heartbeat to normal. It was used to shock him six times.
“Fortunately, it happened here at Bob Bolen, where we have all the resources, training and proper equipment on site to get him stabilized and transported as quickly as possible,” Fort Worth Firefighter and department spokesperson Craig Trojacek said.
The heart attack was the result of a blockage in the heart’s biggest artery — the left anterior descending arterty — that prevented blood from getting to the heart muscle’s blood supply, causing Parker to go into cardiac arrest.
Parker said in the news release that he was confused but now has survivor’s guilt, “like in the military when you survive a traumatic or deadly attack. Why am I the lucky one? What is my purpose?”
He’s been with Fort Worth police for 11 years and spent three years with another agency before that. He joined civilian law enforcement after serving 31 years in the U.S. Army as military police.
Now, he’s hoping his experience with a heart attack can encourage others to take care of their own health.
“Get your yearly physical. Get checked each year. Don’t second-guess yourself. I didn’t think this would happen to me. I’m in the gym all the time,” Parker said. “You just don’t know what’s going on inside until a doctor can have a look.”
He estimates he’d been to the doctor about eight times in his life before the heart attack. He said it’s also important to take CPR classes and AED training, so people can be prepared if something similar happens around them.
The medics, firefighters and police who saved Parker were recognized by the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday. Parker was told by doctors that the full recovery he has experienced is rare. He plans to use it to spend quality time with his wife and children.