Get thee to a CPR course

Marla Sewall: lucky to be alive.

A year ago I hauled myself down to the firehouse a couple of evenings to learn CPR. If you're like me, and the last time you had a course was 137 years ago in the Boy Scouts, it's time for a refresher.

That's because we have portable defibrillators today, and they're marvelous machines. They basically tell you -- a voice talks to you -- what to do. And the how-to of chest compressions has changed. I was surprised to see how hard you actually have to push on a chest, and how often. 

I thought about this after reading a post by Helen Smith. It's said that half a million people die from sudden cardiac arrest each year and that 90 percent of people who have sudden cardiac arrest die --  the other 10 percent get defibrillated and live.

It can strike even those who are athletic and active.

Just ask Marla Sewall. By 2011, the 42-year-old had 11 marathons under her belt. She’d also made quite the name for herself on the tennis court. By Labor Day weekend, the University Park mother was even combining the two, running 20 miles one day and then competing in a three-hour tennis tournament in the next.  

For good measure, Sewall ran 10 miles the day after that and played in the same tennis tournament for three more hours. Which is why it was so shocking when her husband found her face-up unconscious in the family’s tub one night. This woman’s husband luckily knew CPR and saved her life. 

 The best argument I can make for staying inside and taking a nap.