David Wilganowski the Survivor

But he had never seen anything like what happened in the Rangers’ game against Leander Rouse three weeks ago.

“I’ve watched it plenty of times,” Wilganowski said. “It’s eerie, but it doesn’t bother me. What am I going to do? It happened.”

What happened at Merrill Green Stadium on the night of Sept. 2 changed Wilganowski’s life. But his life didn’t end, thanks to medical personnel with the necessary equipment and training.

Wilganowski collapsed on the field in the fourth quarter of a tied game and went into cardiac arrest. Rudder trainer Jamie Woodall and her staff used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to restart Wilganowski’s heart. He was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Regional Health Center, then later that night was flown by helicopter to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

Eleven days later at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Wilganowski underwent surgery in which a defibrillator was placed in his chest. He was released from the hospital and visited Rudder’s football practice the next day, and two days after that he was on the sideline cheering for his teammates as they played Houston C.E. King last Friday in their first game back at Merrill Green Stadium since the incident.

Wilganowski’s memory of his final game is like a video with a segment deleted. He remembers everything before the game, through three quarters and into the fourth period. Wilganowski does not remember the defensive series when Rudder forced the punt play after which he collapsed.

Woodall remembers that play. As is her habit, Woodall scanned the field, checking to make sure all the players got up. The last player she saw was Wilganowski, far from the football, toppling forward like a giant tree, unable to extend his arms to cushion the fall.

“I didn’t wait for a referee’s signal or anything,” Woodall said. “I ran out there. He was having trouble breathing, and when we turned him over he took his last breath.”

Woodall tears up at the memory. She and Bryan trainer Josh Woodall, her husband, are committee members of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. Even before Nader’s incident, the Woodalls made sure there were AEDs at Bryan and Consolidated. Woodall was an assistant trainer with the Tigers when Nader collapsed.

“Knowing that behind me there were all these BISD employees making those phone calls and taking care of those things like getting the gates opened and barricades removed … knowing that was going on behind me was very comforting.” Woodall said.

Rudder assistant trainer Mike Lozano used scissors to remove Wilganowski’s jersey and shoulder pads. Woodall applied the AED, which works automatically and is different from the paddle-style device that most people picture when they think of defibrillators.

The crowd fell silent as the slender young woman began chest compression on the player, with some fans openly praying. Woodall had never used an AED to revive anyone.

“Every experience I’ve had as well as every training I’ve ever been in certainly prepared me for that moment,” Woodall said. “I’m very, very proud to say that in both incidents, with Matt and David, there was good protocol, there was preparation and there were athletic trainers on site to get those things rolling in the right direction.”

Woodall makes sure to share credit for Wilganowski’s treatment. She invited all 17 of Rudder’s student trainers to the Bryan school board meeting Tuesday when she and her staff were honored for helping Wilganowski.

“It is a good recognition for athletic trainers and that’s what I would like for people to take from this,” Woodall said. “Not just that proper protocol was followed, but that there were trained professionals there. Not everybody has that. There are many stories of people who didn’t make it, where there were no athletic trainers or AEDs, or if there were, no one thought to go get it.”

“I don’t feel cheated at all, because I’m still here,” Wilganowski said. “I do feel like I didn’t get as much accomplished as I wanted to, but I can do more with this [experience] than I could with football.

“I have mechanical engineering down [as my major]. Who knows? Some day I could be designing these,” he said, tapping his chest over the defibrillator.

Wilganowski hopes his story will help spread the word about the importance of having AEDs at athletic competitions and of training school personnel to handle life-threatening situations.

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The boy, whose name has not been released, was on the field when he suddenly collapsed, coach Tim Spoonemore said. Unaware of how severe the boy’s injury may be, Spoonemore and coach Brad Averitte rushed on to the field and turned the boy over with Averitte bracing the athlete’s neck.

Adults Honored for Saving Collapsed Azle 7th Grader: MyFoxDFW.com

The coaches quickly realized the boy was unresponsive and had no pulse. While Spoonemore began performing CPR, Averitte continued to brace the boy’s neck while talking to him, comforting him and trying to get him to respond. After a short time, a parent stepped in and took over CPR while Spoonemore left to get one of two automated external defibrillators.

Rita White, a nurse with the district who happened to be watching the game from the stands, said she ran onto the field to help when she saw that the coaches had started CPR. A short time later assistant principal Brian Roberts arrived with the first AED. White, who trains district employees to use the device, then used the device on the player — and he began to breathe.

“I saw his stomach start moving, and that was just the greatest thing,” Spoonemore said during a news conference Wednesday. “When I saw him … getting in the ambulance and he was breathing, that just made my heart jump out of my body almost.”

The player was eventually rushed by helicopter to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, where he remains Wednesday.

The boy’s family has decided not to speak publicly, but did say Wednesday morning that their son is in good condition and that everyone involved in saving their son’s life is a hero.

“It was a team effort. Everyone was here. Everyone had a very important part. No one person is a hero,” said White.

“Going over the scenario again and reliving what everybody in the community from the coaches, to the nurses, to the parents, to the administration, everything that they’ve done has really made today a fantastic day. A young man has life, a father has a son, a mother has a son and it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Averitte.

Azle superintendent Ray Lea arrived at Azle Junior High School minutes after it happened Tuesday and said the entire experience was surreal and that he is the world’s biggest fan of having AEDs on campus.

“Everybody there was in tears and just really shocked. This is just unheard of at a junior high school football game. It was surreal,” Lea said. “I couldn’t be any more proud of my staff to perform the way they did and rescue this young man. I don’t think the young man would be here without the AED.”

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“He also plays basketball and baseball. So he’s very active and he’s kin of accelerated at anything sports related,” said Kyle Cook, Ross’s uncle. Ross’s football coach, Kyle Patterson, added, “He’s a three-way player at this school. He’s a phenomenal athlete.”

On Monday the team had a hard practice. Tuesday’s practice was focused more on teaching the kids. By the end of practice instead of being gathered around one of the coaches, the football players would be gathered around one of their own, praying.

Ross and other teammates were doing some light conditioning. He ran up a small hill onto another field. It was then that he called a teammate’s name and then collapsed to the field.

Ross Palmer the Survivor

“We immediately called 911. I got to him. I checked for a pulse and to see if he was breathing and we had neither,” said Coach Patterson.

A heart that had helped Ross excel in sports had simply stopped. Coaches quickly and calmly started doing what they had been trained to do. They took turns doing chest compressions while checking for breathing and a pulse. Coach Patterson had also sent someone to get the Automated External Defibrillator from the school cafeteria.

“You open it up. You take the pads out. You put them on him and turn it on….You push the red button and he jumps a couple inches off the ground. It was really scary. But immediately we got a pulse and he started breathing on his own,” remember Patterson.

Palmer’s uncle underscored the importance of the AED saying, “If it had been 10 years or so ago when even I was playing sports I wouldn’t have been able to make it because they didn’t have that equipment there.”

Coach Patterson is humble in accepting congratulations for being able to be calm and handle the situation. He says it was a group effort and he’s glad they had the AED on campus. “Grateful for the training, yeah, but it’s the machine that did the work. Whoever invented that machine needs a pat on the back and if I ever meet the guy I’ll shake his hand and tell him, ‘Thank You!’ because of him we have Ross Palmer.”

Ross was taken to the American Falls Hospital. He then was transferred to Portneuf Medical Center. By that time he was conscious and giving a thumbs up to everyone who cared about him. And now, Coach Patterson has a new message for Ross, his team and anyone else listening.

“Yeah, he may never play football again…But there’s a lot more important things, a lot better things to come in his life because of the different group effort of the people in this school and this school district.”

Ross had surgery Friday in Salt Lake City so doctors could put a defibrillator in his chest to start his heart if it ever stops again.

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That angel materialized in the form of the Breaux Bridge coaching staff, which launched into lifesaver mode when the freshman football player was found face-down on the sideline.

Lewis had just come off the field during the Tigers’ spring football scrimmage, grabbed a gulp of water, and took a knee to watch his teammates.

Moments later, Lewis was sprawled out on the ground, his face buried in the grass.

Instinct and training immediately took over for Breaux Bridge head coach Paul Broussard and his staff.

“When we turned him over, we knew that something was wrong,” Broussard said. “We have an emergency plan in place and we’ve been practicing it with our school nurses.

“Each coach is responsible for a certain thing. We had just practiced it with our school nurses right around the Easter holidays. Everybody put the plan in place and thank goodness we had that machine.”

Broussard and assistant coach Kevin Bonhomme began CPR, while coach John Muder raced to the gym to get the AED (automated external defibrillator) machine.

Assistant coaches Brent Angelle and Rickey Poulan ushered the remaining players into the gym.

When Muder arrived with the AED machine, he took over the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as Broussard and Bonhomme began to use the defibrillator.

“People have asked me what was going through my mind, and honestly, you don’t think, you just react,” Bonhomme said. “There was no thinking. That’s where the routine and the training just kicks in.”

The coaches were able to revive Lewis, and he was conscious when Acadian Ambulance arrived on the scene moments later.

“We had lost him a couple of times, but by the time (Acadian Ambulance and Air Med) got there, he was conscious again,” Broussard said.

Lewis was air-lifted to the hospital, while the coaches followed in their vehicles. Bonhomme said it wasn’t until that moment that he was able to catch his breath and realize the magnitude of the situation.

“Adrenaline kind of takes over,” Bonhomme said. “Later on, when I was going to the hospital, I started thinking about it again and I got scared. At the time, you just react.

“On the ride to the hospital, I called my parents and my sister just to hear their voice and make sure they were OK.”

Lewis is doing well and could be released from the hospital as early as Tuesday. Thankfully, he doesn’t remember anything.

“I spoke to him Saturday and again (Monday),” Broussard said. “They will put a heart monitor on him. I think they found out what the problem was; it’s some kind of heart condition that went undetected.

“He doesn’t remember anything. At the hospital that night, I was asking him about it, and he still doesn’t remember what happened. He said pretty much the last thing he remembered was coming off the field.”

Broussard said the fact that Breaux Bridge had a plan in place, as well as rehearsed that plan a few times, definitely helped save Lewis’ life.

“I’m glad we had the emergency plan in place and I’m glad our nurses and principals kept on us to practice the plan,” Broussard said. “It was amazing. We didn’t panic. We just went into the plan and did what we were trained to do. A lot of the things, I don’t even remember what happened.

“I’m glad we were trained and I’m glad we were prepared. I’m glad the end result came out like it did. Our school nurses and principals did a good job of preparing us for this type of situation.”

Part of the training was to simulate an incident during practice. It’s one of those things that coaches might do reluctantly, but Broussard says it was definitely worth the time to practice the plan.

“There’s really never a good time to practice it, but I’m glad we did it,” Broussard said.

“We took the whole football team out there one day and did a mock run and put us on a clock and timed us. That was right around the Easter holidays, so it was still fresh in our mind.

“On the way to the hospital, one of the coaches said ‘Thank goodness we just had that mock drill.’ We were prepared and knew exactly what we had to do. Our nurses and principals were persistent in getting us to know what to do and thank goodness for that.”

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Seaghan went into cardiac arrest and his heart stopped working properly.

Seaghan Kearney the Survivor

The experts say there is a four-minute window for revival from the time a person collapses in this way. Luckily, those around him were quick to react. They called Terry O’Brien, another member who was doing a volunteer stint behind the bar at the time.

Terry is a fireman, so he was able to take control of the situation. He put Kearney in the recovery position and got to work. Initially they thought he had swallowed his tongue, but as his pulse started to fade it became apparent that it was much more serious.

O’Brien sent another teammate to fetch the defibrillator, urgently. When Tyrone footballer Cormac McAnallen passed away in 2004, local pharmacist David King generously donated the device, but the club had failed to service it since and the batteries were out of date. By pure good fortune, there was enough power left for two blasts, just enough to revive Kearney and to keep him alive until the ambulance arrived.

“I was lucky that there was enough energy in it to revive me because clinically I was dead. In a way I was in the right place at the right time. A lot of events conspired to save me,” revealed Seaghan

“The fact that it happened in a club where there was a defibrillator; the fact that Terry was there and he is a fireman and also there was just enough power in the defibrillator to save me, it was just pure luck.”

When Kearney made it to the hospital, he was admitted to intensive care. The doctors were worried about brain damage because of a lack of oxygen but the only side-effect Kearney suffered was short-term memory loss.

“My memory was a bit dodgy for a while, they said that it could have taken two years to come back but it started to right itself quickly. I just kept asking people did Ireland really draw with Slovakia.”

When he regained some strength, the doctors inserted an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) under his arm. It’s an internal defibrillator so if it ever happens again it will fire and kick-start his heart.

Kearney, named Plunketts’ Junior C player of the year at the club’s recent dinner dance, was in hospital for two and a half weeks, and his recovery was helped by the support he received from his friends, family and members of the GAA community.

“I couldn’t believe the number of cards and texts I received from people. It was overwhelming. Clubmates, including Alan and Bernard Brogan, were among those who came to visit me in hospital. It all helped.

“Even still I meet a lot of people when I’m out walking who ask how I am. They are all interested in how I’m doing and it’s out of genuine concern. I’m a good news story for people and it makes a change from everything else that’s going on in their worlds.”

As a result of what happened, Kearney had to give up competitive sport — he can exercise but has to stay within certain parameters. There is a less than four per cent chance of it happening again but he has to be sensible about things. The odds are in his favour but if anything does happen he has a back-up plan with the ICD.

Not long after Kearney was discharged from hospital, he went to see Bridget McAnallen, Cormac’s mother. He thanked her for the efforts that her family made in raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death; what they did helped save his life.

“A lot of clubs have defibrillators; they got them after Cormac passed away. I know of other clubs close to us that have them locked away in offices and safes. It’s not much benefit keeping them some place where no one can get at them.”

While recovering Kearney decided to do some work in raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death. He is part of a team who have come up with a campaign centred on the acronym ‘ACT’. ‘A’ is to ensure that the defibrillator is accessible, ‘C’ is to make sure it is charged and ‘T’ is so that people are trained how to use it.

View First Aid Corps World Map of AED Locations in a larger map

“We teach them CPR, we teach them how to use the AED, we teach them basic life support,” said Jennifer Morrow, Co-Director of the LHS Medical Careers Academy.

Morrow was there the night Kenny Henry suffered from a heart attack and cardiac arrest while officiating a game. She says she couldn’t be more proud of the high school girls who put their skills and training into action.

“It was very scary but we were going to do everything we could to help him to make sure he would survive,” said Kelci Lions, one of the student trainers.

Lions, along with Kennen Granger, Natalie White and Claire Black immediately followed their emergency action plan by calling an ambulance, blocking off and clearing the scene and getting the Automatic External Defibrillator, or AED.

“It’s analyzing it and telling you if the heart rate is good or not, and whether or not that person needs to be shocked. And if it does then everybody stands back and it shocks the person and it revives them,” explained Lions.

Henry’s heart had to be shocked twice to revive him. He was then rushed to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. It was the girls’ teamwork that got him to the hospital in time.

“They knew exactly what to do, they got it all done I didn’t even have to tell them a thing, they just jumped into action,” said LHS Certified Trainer Aimee Gros.

And their quick thinking is the reason Henry is alive today.

“It puts things in perspective. We don’t just give people water, bad things can happen and we have to be there,” said student Claire Black.

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The boy was identified by teammates as defensive lineman Jordan Peterson, a senior. He was hit in the chest by another defensive lineman during a drill and fell to the ground in cardiac arrest.

Volusia County rescue workers received a 911 call about 5:55 p.m. about an injury at the Port Orange school. The caller said an athletic trainer was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the player, Smith said. With the trainer’s help, n off-duty police officer and an assistant coached zused an automated external defibrillator donated by Port Orange Fire Rescue to restart the boy’s heart, witnesses and officials said.

Defensive lineman Shayne Laidler said the two players rolled over after the tackle, and nothing initially seemed out of the ordinary. Then Jordan walked about 10 feet away, went down on one knee and appeared to be catching his breath, Shayne said. One of the coaches asked if he was OK, and Jordan waved him off, then rolled over onto his back, Shayne said.

Jordan Petersen the Survivor

A few seconds later, a coach walked over and asked if Jordan was all right and got no response.

“I saw it happen,” said Dillon Cheney, a football player. “I guess he just got hit in the chest the wrong way and when he got hit, I guess all the air came out of him and he went like ‘ahhh.’ And then he like laid there and we thought he was fine, but he never got back up.”

Jordan Peterson was taken to Halifax Medical Center in critical condition, but he is now listed in good condition.

Hospital officials said Peterson came out of a medically induced coma alert and talking.

Updates

“I feel very tired,” Jordan said Wednesday from his home in Port Orange. “I don’t feel a whole lot weaker than I was [before]. I just feel like it was a bad day.”

“I’m feeling greatly improved,” the teen said. “Not yet 100 percent, but feeling a lot better.”

“I guess I’m going to be a motivational speaker if I can’t be a contributor,” Jordan said. “I’m going to miss playing football, but what I will miss most is being around the team.”

Although does not remember the hit during practice, he does remember having the fingers on his left hand taped before that day’s practice.

While the trainer applied tape, Jordan noticed an unfamiliar machine nearby and asked what it was.

The trainer said it was a defibrillator, a device used to start a heart after it stops.

“Have you ever had to use it?” Jordan asked.

“No,” the trainer said.

The team’s coach says a 9th-grade offensive tackle, was doing hitting drills head-to-head with another player when he suddenly collapsed.

A trainer at the practice ran to grab an automated external defibrillator or AED.

“Once we realized he stopped breathing, the trainer was right there right by the hill so his quick response actually helped save him,” said J.V. headcoach Jerry Arrayan.

“We hooked him up and he started coming around but i still had to do some CPR and eventually the pulse came back,” said athelectic heath care trainer Colin Lee.

The player was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Jonathan Moore the Survivor

A minute before, the 16-year-old had been running with his teammates prepping for football practice. But Jonathan, a husky fullback and defensive tackle, suddenly collapsed.

His heart had stopped beating. He had no pulse.

Team trainers Matt Thomas and Chris Shaddock hurried to Jonathan’s side and began CPR.

Thomas grabbed the school’s automatic external defibrillator and used it on Moore to restart his heart.

It started beating again and paramedics rushed the teen to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

“I was sure he was dead,” Shaddock said.

Jonathan barely remembers anything from the day he collapsed. Someone told him he was doing a good job, but a few days later he found himself lying in a hospital bed, scared and confused.

Jonathan said, “Collapsed, passed out, actually died and Shadack and other trainers brought me back.”

“l’m very grateful for Pearland ISD, the trainers and all the doctors here,” said Jonathan’s mother Vanessa Williams.

Thomas and Shaddock said they weren’t really heroes. They were just doing what they were trained to.

“It was a team effort,” Shaddock said.

Cardiologists at Children’s Memorial Hermann implanted an internal defibrillator to regulate Jonathan’s heartbeat.

Thompson suddenly lurched forward and fell on his face.

Dr. Scott Bainbridge, a spine specialist also playing in the game, rolled Thompson onto his back, checked his signs and started CPR in the muddy field.

Dan Caplis the Saviour

Caplis, meantime, bolted to his SUV. By the time he returned with his defibrillator, Thompson was flatlining.

“Stay calm. Follow these voice instructions. Make sure 911 is called now. Begin by exposing patient’s bare chest and torso,” began the recorded voice in the machine.

Caplis followed the cues, placed the pads on Thompson’s chest and stood back as the AED shocked him with power Caplis describes as “ferocious.”

“Waiting to see if he would react, those were the longest seconds of my life,” he says.

Before Caplis and Bainbridge attached the AED to Thompson, he wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse. According to Cherry Hills Village Police it took only one shock from the AED to resuscitate Dr. Thompson.

Thompson regained consciousness quickly and strongly. The father of two boys is expected to make a full recovery at Swedish Medical Center for treatment. .

“I was in the right place at the right time with the right people,” he said Monday.

“It would have felt so incredibly helpless to have been there without the machine,” adds Caplis, co-host of KHOW’s Caplis and Craig Silverman show. He’s had the defibrillator for a year and a half because of another of his jobs, as a little league baseball coach.

“You can know nothing about CPR or AEDs and they can still save somone. They’re that good,” he said.

Updates

Tradition in the Hereford clan holds that the family that hosts Thanksgiving dinner prepares the big bird.

Ches Thompson the Survivor

But when everyone convened Thursday afternoon, Ches Thompson brought the turkey along with him.

“It’s fair,” jokes John Hereford, Thompson’s brother-in-law. “He didn’t do crap last year.”

“I put the turkey in the oven,” Thompson counters. “I just didn’t turn it off.”

To be sure, Thompson a year ago was a little preoccupied. After starting the culinary preparations, the Englewood resident went out to play in the annual neighborhood Turkey Bowl football game.

The game ended when Thompson collapsed face-first onto the field, the victim of a heart attack. As Thompson says, when one considers the alternatives, being forced to break with tradition isn’t really so bad.

After all, he was around to return to this year’s game and be part of the Thanksgiving celebration. Then there’s the rest of the holiday season, and, just a couple of weeks after Christmas, his 50th birthday.

“You meet people who go, ‘Oh, I don’t have birthdays anymore.’ Or ‘Oh, I stopped having them when I was 40,’ ” Thompson says. “But to me, having birthdays is great. This is a good thing; I don’t care if I’m turning 50, 51 or 61.

“Being here for birthdays, for kids’ graduations, to see them get married, hopefully see them have children — those are all things you want to be around for.”

On Wednesday night there was a smaller gathering at Glenmoor Country Club, a little dinner to honor those mainly responsible for assisting Thompson during his predicament — “the savers,” he calls them.

That group includes Scott Bainbridge, a doctor who performed CPR on Thompson while another participant in the game, radio talk-show host and lawyer Dan Caplis, grabbed from his truck an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to jolt Thompson’s heart back to life.

Before last year’s contest, Thompson and Caplis hadn’t met. Now they’re bonded for life.

Caplis says returning to the game — renamed the Defib Bowl and played out on a big field behind the home of one of Thompson’s neighbors — “will be very surreal.”

“But,” he adds, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Fortunately, neither would Thompson, who finds himself wondering how one measures good fortune — and what one does when Fate smiles upon you with a second chance.

As he says, it’s not exactly a case of a devious Wall Street financier who has an epiphany and decides to mend his evil ways, giving all his money to charity and going to work in a soup kitchen.

Thompson, an ob-gyn at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, has certainly been beneficial to scores of area families.

“I felt like I was already giving back,” he says.

Perhaps the change can be measured in smaller ways, he continues — stopping to talk instead of rushing off to clear the table and get back to work and the Xbox after dinner, or making sure that vacations indeed become the lasting memories that families wax poetically about.

“My outlook on life is definitely different; you try not to sweat the small stuff,” he says. “Every day is a gift. The kids leave the dirty dishes on the counter, and, before, you’re going, ‘Arrrgh, why do they do that stuff?’ Now, it’s ‘Who cares?’ There are bigger things to be concerned about.

“I don’t think about how serious it was; it was life and death, and that’s daunting stuff,” he says. “I realize how fortunate I was, that it was a miracle. But on a more constant basis, you realize where your priorities and values are in life. Obviously, you want to come out of this a better person. Hopefully, I have.”

John Hereford says that whenever he hears about someone’s good fortune, like buying a winning lottery ticket, he’s reminded of what happened last year.

“I just want to say, ‘Oh, yeah, you think you’re lucky? Look at this,’ ” he says. “The odds of this were so much higher, we were so much luckier.”

The only reason Caplis had the AED in his truck was because of his involvement in a lawsuit stemming from a Montana case two years earlier in which a high school football player collapsed and died during practice.

Caplis, who had been playing in the Turkey Bowl for the first time last year, had actually left and gone home.

His son Joe, then a sixth-grader, was having such a great time competing against the big guys that he insisted on staying. So Joe was supposed to get a ride home with someone else, but at the last moment, Caplis decided to return to get in a few final plays himself. He arrived back at the field just moments before the incident.

Similarly, Bainbridge had planned on leaving about 20 minutes earlier but stayed when he couldn’t drag his son off the field.

In the mad scramble that ensued after the heart attack, Thompson’s friends and family frantically called around, asking what doctor they should try to find to take care of him. The name that kept coming up was Roger Damle.

Coincidentally, when the ambulance carrying Thompson arrived at Swedish, Damle was the cardiologist on call.

In something of a deliciously ironic twist, those not at the hospital found themselves gravitating to the home of a family friend, Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a frequent target of the conservative Caplis.

“The odds involved were unreal,” Hereford says with a laugh. “I just hope it hasn’t sucked all the good luck out of our family for the next six generations to come.”