Samina Ali awoke with a start at 5 a.m. to the sound of her husband, Tim Graham, gasping for breath beside her.
He was only 46 years old, but she knew immediately that his heart was in trouble. A physician and professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, Ali called 911, started chest compressions and sorted out care for their three children as Tim was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. It was a whirlwind of stress for the family that left Ali sleepless for months afterwards, even though Tim survived his cardiac arrest and was released from the hospital just two weeks later.
"The cardiologist shook our hands and said, 'This is a miracle, it's such an incredible outcome. You should be so happy, have a great rest of your lives,'" Ali remembers. "We went home, and every time I had doubt, sadness or anger about what happened, it felt like a betrayal because our amazing care team told us we were so gosh darn lucky.
"I know now that all the things that I felt were very normal feelings, but once you leave the hospital, there's no followup. You have to process all of it on your own." Ali had to seek out private counseling, including guided family debriefing, to deal with post-traumatic stress symptoms.
Ali is hoping other families won't have to do the same on their own. She served as a survivor family adviser for a U of A-led study on the care needs of families of cardiac arrest patients, which proposed new clinical practice guidelines. Over the weekend, the paper won 20.