Deanna Babcock of Raleigh is not a typical heart patient. At just 24, this lifelong athlete may be the least likely person you'd expect to have a heart problem.

"I've been active all of my life," said Babcock. "I ran and swam hundreds of races and nothing bad has happened before until one thing bad happened."

In July 2007, Deanna was training for a triathlon. She had just started swimming at a Raleigh YMCA when her heart stopped. Deanna went into sudden cardiac arrest - an electrical malfunction in her heart. Instead of squeezing and pumping blood throughout her body, her heart started beating so fast it was quivering.

"Depending on how it begins, you either just bang, hit the floor, and you're unconscious," said Mark Silver, M.D., of Raleigh Cardiology Associates. "Or you may have a little bit of warning, but usually, very quickly it deteriorates to the point where your blood pressure falls, because the heart's just not squeezing, you pass out and then you don't feel a pulse."

Ninety-five percent of people who have sudden cardiac arrest die. Quick-thinking lifeguards rescued Deanna from the water and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. They also used a defibrillator to deliver an electric shock to get her heart back into a normal rhythm. Silver, who is Babcock's doctor, said getting help right away was critical for her survival.

"Once someone's in the midst of sudden cardiac arrest, literally every second makes a difference," he said. "Once it's been 10 minutes, it already could be too late."

It took four shocks to get Deanna's heart going again. She spent almost three months in the hospital and her left leg had to be amputated when doctors couldn't restore the blood flow. But she hasn't let what happened keep her from doing the things she loves, including biking, running and swimming.

In the water, Deanna swims with grace and strength as she trains for her next triathlon. She has a defibrillator implanted in her chest to guard against another arrest, but aside from feeling the outline of the device under her skin, she says she doesn't think much about it.

"I don't know that it won't happen again," she said. "If it does happen again, the defibrillator is supposed to address that situation. I'll take their word for it, I don't want to test it."

Doctors say we all should be prepared to help someone in case of Sudden Cardiac Arrest by knowing basic CPR and by learning how to use an AED. Click on the extra video link above to see and hear Dr. Mark Silver talk about how to use an AED.

Related Links

1. Find out more about sudden cardiac arrest.