Near Fatal Asthma Attack

I had been trying to exercise more and had taken up in line skating in an effort to bolster my lung capacity as my asthma was getting worse by the day. I was just beginning to get the hang of it and thought I could to stay in control without overdoing it to cause an asthma attack.

It was a beautiful spring day in Michigan. The date was April 28, 1995 and I had a very stressful day at work. After dinner, I decided to unwind and don the skates for a short trip. Normally, I would go a mile or so and then return. Fortunately, that day I decided to just circle the block and not go my usual route.

On my second lap, my asthma started kicking in and I tried using a few puffs from my inhaler. As I slowed down I realized the asthma was not letting up. My lungs started to slowly shut down from being clogged with the muccus produced by the asthma attack. I contemplated sitting down and seeing if It would let up while I rested but I thank God that I kept slowly rolling that last half block home so I could bang on the front door of our house. When my wife came to the door, I told her I was having trouble breathing but as this had happened numerous times before, I wasn’t greatly concerned at this time.

She went to put on a pot of coffee which usually seemed to help when my asthma bothered me. By the time she put the pot on, I had only wrestled one of my skates off and my breathing was starting to get critical. The inhalers weren’t helping at all. I beat on the door again and told her that something was wrong. She then called 911 and stayed on the phone with the dispatcher as I was in terrible agony. Imagine someone putting a piece of plastic wrap over your face and no air getting in at all. It’s a feeling that I cannot describe it was so horrible. In my mind, I started realizing I wasn’t going to make it this time. My body and chest ached from gasping for air.

The last sounds I remember were sirens way off in the distance. They seemed so far away. Then it was like a volume control being turned down. Things got quieter until I finally collapsed on the porch. My wife says I turned a bluish purple almost immediately. Several minutes later, the Royal Oak Fire Department arrived and started administering CPR. Then the paramedics arrived and they intubated me and used the Defibrillator paddles to shock me and restart my heart.

The next thing I remember was lying in a hospital bed very relaxed but unable to open my eyes or move any part of my body. My mind was totally alert and I could hear the nurses talking about a date they had gone on. One of them even said "Don’t worry, He can’t hear us" and I remember thinking that was funny at the moment. I believe they gave me the paralyzing drug because of the breathing tubes they had in me.

My feet get very hot (That’s why I took the trail name HotFoot on the Appalachian Trail) and I usually have my feet poking outside the covers when I sleep. It was absolutely maddening that my feet were all covered up and I couldn’t kick the covers off but was very aware of everything. I faded back out to sleep and a little while later heard my wife. The stuff they gave me to paralyze me was starting to wear off and I was able to open my eyes. I then could barely move my feet and tried to signal her to uncover my feet by wiggling my toes. She then ratted me out to the nurse and said my feet were moving so the nurse came and gave me another shot to totally paralyze me again which was very frustrating at the time. I still tease my wife about that.

The paramedics and EMT’s did a terrific job working on me. I used to work on an ambulance and did CPR on people numerous times but never thought I would be a recipient. They did such a good job. The EMT who was doing CPR kept talking to me the whole time I was out and coaxing me back. I know I must have heard him subconsciously because I cannot think about that without getting a bit emotional.

Several newspaper articles were written (article 1) and (article 2) about this incident and a representative from the television show "Rescue 911" called and said they were considering doing an episode on this incident.

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Several months prior to this incident on January 15, 1995 (my 40th birthday), I had another severe asthma attack where I almost didn’t make it. Fortunately an ambulance was at the event (Monster truck exhibition) and my kids were able to get help for me before I totally shut down. The weather was brutally cold and that plus exertion getting the kids a mile to the stadium in 10 below zero temperatures triggered the attack. That was a very close incident and I won’t go into the details of that incident any further.

We never did get to see the Monster trucks that evening.

Upcoming Book

"A Cure for Asthma? What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You - and Why"

is a book currently being written by Dr. David Hahn.

We will announce and post appropriate links when more information and publishing dates become available.

News

(July 2010) Wilmore Webley PH.D. recently sent me some of the latest research he was a part of:

Infectious Chlamydia pneumoniae is Associated With Elevated Interleukin-8 and Airway Neutrophilia in Children With Refractory Asthma

Occurrence of Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae in paediatric respiratory infections

Science Daily News
(May 25, 2010)Scientists from the University of Massachusetts have developed an animal model that shows how an early childhood lung infection can cause asthma later in life.

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The University of Wisconsin, American Academy of Family Physicians, Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians (WAFP), The Dean Foundation for Health, Research and Education (Dean Foundation) and Pfizer corporation is sponsoring a study and recruiting volunteers for a study called AZMATICS to determine the effectiveness of Azithromycin as Adjunctive Treatment for Adult Asthma.

Important notice: At this time, the study is no longer recruiting subjects. However, the Principal Investigator, Dr. David Hahn, is willing to discuss other research opportunities that may be available for asthma suffers.

If you are interested in learning more, you may email Dr. Hahn at:

Dean Foundation

Follow this link to learn more about Dr. Hahn and the Dean Foundation.

If you are interested in making a donation to The Dean Foundation you can specify that it be used towards infectious asthma research

Support forum

First off, I would like to apologize for abruptly shutting down the support forum several years ago. Besides dealing with hackers, trolls and rude people, I was going through an extremely stressful time in life that resulted in the loss of our youngest son.

It got to be too much to handle so one day I flipped the switch and shut it down.

I know this upset some people so I hope they can accept this apology

Archives for the support forum can be found here. Plenty of good information to research

Old News

Newspaper Articles about AsthmaStory

The St. Petersburg times ran a story about AsthmaStory just before I went on Appalachian trail journey

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Several newspaper articles about the near fatal asthma attack.

Article 1

Article 2

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Every year thousands die from fatal asthma attacks

Take asthma seriously!

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