Paul Pratt is a model cardiac rehab patient. An old farm boy who is lucky, grateful, and glad to be alive. It was at Maplelag near Detroit Lakes, the whole Pratt gang was there cross country skiing when Paul went down.
"He was skiing down and at the bottom of the hill, he just went face forward."
He had collapsed, fortunately, on a trail near well traveled road. Family frantically waved down two cars begging for help. Inside were Meritcare Cardiologist Jon Dickson and his son, a medical resident at Duke.
"Paul is our miracle, for every minute that it takes to get a rhythm back, your survival drops by 10-percent each minute."
It gets better, as the Dicksons approached, another skier happened upon Paul. Dr. Bob Hudson, a stranger, but an anesthesiologist from Canada. All worked to save Paul who had stopped breathing and had no pulse.
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"He started CPR and my son rushed out of the car. So the three of us did CPR and we did that for 15-minutes."
Meantime an off duty White Earth Police officer heard the frantic 911 call and knew he could beat the ambulance and so he grabbed at AED and raced to the scene.
"You could not have scripted it any better."
"Everything I hear is news to me and it extends the story of more detail and I get more in awe all the time of what happened to me."
Today, Dr. Dickson stopped in to see Paul in cardiac rehab. All parties amazed at this story of survival, and how the right people at the best place and time appeared to save this grateful grandfather.
"Just a miracle, it is hard to grasp."
"We talk about the Olympics and the miracle on ice. This is our miracle in the snow."
"I am the recipient of all this and it really makes you think."
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Meritcare specialists used a state of the art procedure to induce a coma and cool down his body, to give Paul's brain and heart time to heal from the heart attack and lack of oxygen.
