CPR Save's Man's Life in Ross

Two Marin mothers saved a San Francisco man's life last weekend using CPR.  Jennifer Ani of San Rafael and Michal "Miki" Goralsky of San Anselmo were at a party in Ross for first-graders at Brandeis Hillel Day School when Mike Ryan, another parent, collapsed and turned blue.

"We were all outside, and it was time for the piñata and all the kids were in line," Ani said. "I was about 10 feet from him and his eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled and he fell to the ground."

Goralsky began administering compressions to Ryan's chest while Ani performed mouth-to-mouth ventilations. T the first-graders were taken to another part of the property.

Paramedics arrived several minutes later and applied external defibrillation with an AED, administed ACLS cardiac drugs, and transported Ryan to Marin General Hospital where doctors told him he had suffered a heart attack and had been clinically dead for a short time.

51 year old Ryan, who had no hiostory of problems with his heart, had quadruple bypass surgery and is doing well, said his wife, Hagit Glickman.

"CPR not only saved his life but brought him back to life ... with no damage from the heart attack due to how quickly the women acted and how well they did what they did," she said.

Dr. Brian Strunk, chief of cardiology at Marin General Hospital said all three of Ryan's arteries were blocked and he would have died without CPR.

Dr. Strunk emphasized the need for everyone to take CPR classes, emphasizing that each minute after a heart attack is critical.   Paramedic usually arrive withing 5-7 minutes of being called in Marin, but without CPR during these critical minutes, most patients can not be saved..

"Without those two ladies doing the CPR, he would have been brain dead," Strunk said. "As it is, his head is completely intact, and they saved his heart enough."  With bypass surgery he will be able to lead a normal life, Strunk said.

Ryan told the Independent Journal on Wednesday that he remembered falling and then returning to consciousness from a strange, dream-like state.

"They're wonder women that saved my life," said Ryan, a parent and chairman of the Executive Impact Group, a business strategy and development company.

The experience made such a profound impression on Ani, Goralsky and other Brandeis parents that a group of first-grade families are planning to take a CPR class together.

"The lesson here for me is that you cannot wait and think that somebody else will do it — you need to act," Goralsky said.

A recent American Red Cross survey found that one in four people have been in a situation in which someone required CPR, said Cynthia Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross' Bay Area chapter.

"You never know when you'll need to respond to an emergency," Shaw said. "You never know when you're going to see somebody in front of you collapse with a heart attack."

With proper training, everyday people have the power to stabilize a patient while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, potentially saving a life, she said.

Ani and Goralsky didn't know Ryan and Glickman before the birthday party, but now all four parents say they're eager to spend time together.

"I expect to live until at least 80 or 100, and we'll keep Jennifer and Miki in our lives," Ryan said. "My birthday's now Sept. 18 instead of Jan. 19. It's a whole new life."