From the view of a patient and next of kin

Abstract

April 16th, 2018, a normal Monday that was supposed to be a turning point in my life. Strokes of fate usually do not announce themselves. This was also the case in my story. The fact that I can report on in this book chapter is due to the point that on this day, 3 years ago, the greatest possible misfortune was immediately followed by the greatest happiness that one could wish for in such a situation. Suddenly my heart stopped beating and it took many days until it would function independently again with all conceivable help. Everybody knows the reports and pictures of mostly young competitive athletes who collapse with sudden heart failure on the sports field and either lose their lives tragically or can be saved under lucky circumstances. Recently, such images became relevant again during the European Football Championship 2020, where the Danish national player Christian Eriksen fell down on the pitch in Copenhagen while playing a group match against Finland, just in front of the eyes of the world public without any external influence and could only be saved by immediate resuscitation measures on the spot. I also watched these scenes live on television, and they immediately evoked all the memories I have of my own experience, as someone who was once affected this scenario himself. In the following, I would like to report from the perspective of a patient on these memories, but above all also on the numerous stories told by various people involved-first and foremost my family members and friends-in order to provide an example of the achievements of modern (technical) medicine and the courage of the physicians and nursing staff, who exhaust it without regard for costs, in trusting cooperation with the relatives.