We will be reporting on lives saved around the world since our first documented life saved here in Singapore.
David Duke the Survivor
Feb. 13 started like a typical day, Duke said. The classes he taught that morning passed without incident, and he had just started his planning period. His last memory was standing at the classroom podium. What happened next, he learned from his co-workers.
Martha Wissler, a math teacher whose classroom is next to Duke’s, heard the loud thud caused by Duke collapsing and striking the wall with his head and shoulders.
Wissler, who was teaching a class, went to investigate and found Duke unconscious on the floor. A second teacher who happened to pass by, called 911 and the school’s administration office. That same teacher also alerted a registered nurse who happened to be at the school that day to teach a workshop.
Carrie Higdon, an assistant principal at the school, said when the defibrillator was hooked up to Duke, it indicated he had no pulse.
A single jolt from the machine, however, restored his pulse, and moments later, paramedics were rushing Duke to the hospital.
Duke was in a coma for five days. Doctors were able to clear a clogged artery that caused the heart attack. He returned to teaching seven weeks later.
Looking back, Higdon said the entire episode happened so fast, nobody had time to think. She considers it good fortune that it all worked out the way it did.
“It was one of those things where everything fell into place the right way,” Higdon said.
Duke, however, attributes his second chance at life to divine providence. He said the experience has tightened the bonds he has with his colleagues, especially those who acted so quickly to save his life.
“I’ve hugged them all several times,” Duke said. “I can’t thank them enough.”
“I would be a very strong proponent of every school having at least one,” he said. “I cannot stress their importance enough.”
