He just began walking again two weeks ago.
An Ohio man who spent nearly 40 days unconscious in intensive care after suffering a heart attack has reunited with the team that saved his life.
Ken Henning was delivering hospital beds at his job in May when he realized something was terribly wrong and headed to a hospital.
“The doctor looked at me and told me I was going to have to have surgery and I wanted to go home and think about it," Kenning said. "He said no and that’s the last I remember."
The 65-year-old underwent an emergency quadruple bypass surgery, but the next day he went into cardiac arrest. Doctors had to shock him 50 times to keep him alive.
He was airlifted to the ICU at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he spent weeks in recovery, 37 of them unconscious.
In what the hospital calls a “victory lap,” Henning got the chance to meet the doctors who saved his life for the first time. Henning, who just started walking again two weeks ago, was greeted in the ICU with cheers and tears from those who saved his life.
“When I was treated here, I didn’t know where I was or how long I’d been here, so there’s a lot of people I really didn’t meet,” said Henning. “24/7, they were there. And to be where I am now and see their faces, I think it gives them hope.”
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The hospital hopes the experience is powerful for both patient and doctors.
“There are rough days in nursing; there are very rough days,” said Stacey Daughenbaugh, an ICU nurse who treated Henning. “So days like this make it worthwhile. It makes you remember why you’re doing this.”
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