KTLA 5: Dancer Survives Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Thanks to CPR
KTLA 5 recently interviewed Pedro Catarino, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, about the quick action and CPR that saved the life of a professional hip-hop dancer who went into sudden cardiac arrest during rehearsal.
Catarino told KTLA 5 anchors Jessica Holmes, Frank Buckley and Henry DiCarlo that without CPR, 32-year-old G’bari Gilliam “wouldn’t be sitting here with us today.”
Gilliam was unaware he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart condition that causes the heart muscle to become abnormally thick and require more oxygen during exertion.
“What happened to G’bari was that he exerted himself too much, the heart didn’t have enough oxygen and he went into cardiac arrest,” Catarino told Holmes.
After Gilliam arrived at Cedars-Sinai, he went into cardiac arrest again and was placed on artificial heart-and-lung support called ECMO. Catarino explained that ECMO supported Gilliam’s organs while his care team determined whether his heart could recover. Because it could not, Gilliam eventually received a heart transplant.
Catarino encouraged everyone to learn CPR.
“It’s a short, practical skill that anybody can learn,” he told Buckley. “You're most likely to need it for one of your loved ones, because most cardiac arrests happen in the home, and you will double or triple the chances of survival.”
If someone collapses, appears unresponsive and is not breathing normally, Catarino said, call 911 and begin CPR immediately. Chest compressions should be performed at a rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute. If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is available, it can be used to restore a normal heart rhythm with a shock.
Now six months into his recovery, Gilliam expressed gratitude “for the people that helped save my life in the moment, the dancers that were there, the bystanders that helped out, the people that were in the ambulance, and the team at Cedars-Sinai that literally saved my life.”
Watch the complete segment from KTLA 5.