The importance of CPR and a second chance at life

There was a hush in the library at Sandia High School on Wednesday. As the early morning sunshine leaked in from the windows, the room was full of teachers, coaches, educational assistants and other staff members who had gathered for a special staff meeting.

The American Heart Association New Mexico was conducting a CPR training course for them. Placed on several tables around the room were CPR training dummies, each waiting for staff members to try their hands at practicing the lifesaving measure.

In the middle of the room was a man who knew the lifesaving power of CPR all too well: 62-year-old Ray Henderson. A heart attack survivor, he led the CPR training for the first time. Before that, however, he shared his own experience with CPR and how it allowed him to be standing there Wednesday.

It was difficult to imagine this alert and energetic man as only six years removed from nearly losing his life, but the story of his frightening experience highlighted just how important CPR is .

From what Henderson remembers, Feb. 21, 2018, was just like any other day. The Rio Rancho High School marketing teacher and DECA adviser went to work as he normally did, then came home, had dinner and went to bed.

That night, his life would change forever.

"My wife said I got out of bed complaining of some digestion stuff, and I went into the bathroom and threw up violently," Henderson said. "When I came out (of the bathroom), she said I looked like a zombie."

Henderson walked out into the living room and collapsed. His wife, Norma, rushed to his side, but according to Henderson, "I was already dead." She ran to get her phone to dial 911, but couldn't get cell service. Unable to call for help, and mirroring what she had seen on television, Norma began to do chest compressions on her husband.

"She had never done CPR; she didn't know how fast and how far down to go or anything like that," Henderson said. "She just started pressing."

Henderson said his wife couldn't remember how long she performed CPR on him, only that she kept repeating the phrase, "You're not going to die." Henderson credits his wife's CPR for keeping the air moving through his lungs and, in turn, keeping him alive.

Norma would continue CPR for the next 33 minutes until she was able to contact an emergency operator and ask for help. That entire time, Henderson was without a pulse.

When the ambulance finally arrived at Henderson's house, he said it took the first responders 10 to 12 minutes before they could get a pulse from him. "They had to use the defibrillator, I think, 10 times," he said.

While en route to Presbyterian Hospital on Central, Henderson flatlined three more times, and by the time they arrived, medical staff told his family to expect the worst.

He was given his last rites and had his family by his side. Short on options, doctors decided to try a "Hail Mary" in the words of Henderson and put him on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (ECMO). Effectively a modified heart-lung bypass machine, the ECMO machine takes over heart and lung function when the patient's organs are too weak to perform them, according to yalemedicine.org.

Normally used on infants, this was the first time the hospital had used an ECMO machine on an adult, according to Henderson. The comatose Henderson was hooked up to the ECMO machine for three weeks before he woke.

At that point, "everything is kind of looking good. I was still in critical condition and moved to a step-down part of the hospital," he said.

This is where his recovery would take a dramatic turn, however. Henderson developed a rash due to an allergic relation caused by the drug, gabapentin. That rash, later diagnosed as toxic epidermal necrolysis, or TEN syndrome, would quickly cover most of Henderson's body, causing his skin to blister and burn off his body. He was transferred to the University of New Mexico Hospital's burn unit, where he spent the next two months.

After his stay in the burn unit, Henderson was transferred to another hospital, where he spent the next three weeks. Only after roughly three and a half months off his feet was Henderson able to get back on his feet.

In August 2018, he returned to the classroom after his long absence and was flooded with cards and messages of support from his students.

In 2019, he would undergo four stent procedures and a triple-bypass heart operation. Henderson decided to retire at the end of the 2018-2019 school year after 21 years of teaching and said he was struggling to find his purpose in retirement after being given a second chance at life.

He found that purpose in training and teaching others about the importance of CPR.

Teaming up with the American Heart Association New Mexico last October, Henderson has been able to share his story with many others and has become both an advocate and a living example of the power of CPR. "Being involved with the American Heart Association here in New Mexico is a huge way of giving back," he said.

In addition to the CPR training, Sandia High School also received a donation of 10 CPR Anywhere training kits from the American Heart Association New Mexico. PNM also gave the American Heart Association New Mexico a sponsorship of $10,000 for their CPR program. This is the second year in a row they have teamed up to hand out CPR kits. Last year, they donated kits to Highland High School.

"Seeing (students and teachers) get involved and hands-on (with CPR training) helps them save lives," said Laurie Roach, executive director of the PNM Resources Foundation.

Sandia High School Principal Camille Gonzales saw firsthand how CPR could save a student's life when she was a teacher at Manzano High School several years ago.

"One of my colleagues performed CPR until they brought an automated external defibrillator to him, and then EMTs were able to get there," Gonzales said. "That teacher saved (the student's) life, and I saw firsthand how impactful CPR was."

Similar to Henderson's story, the quick action of CPR saves a person's life, and with the proper training and practice, Gonzales is hopeful that both her staff and her students will be ready should they ever need to use CPR themselves.

"Kids learn best when they have hands-on experiences, and to be able to pull out a kit and the dummies and practice on them is super-important," she said. "They won't fully understand what it all entails until they are actually doing it."

Photos: Staff members at Sandia High School receive CRP training