My Heart Attack And TBI Survivor Story

I have a brain injury. Because of that brain injury, I deal with mental fatigue — all of the time. I have discovered that while writing is beyond me when I’m very fatigued, talking is not. Therefore, I’ve been using voice-to-text software, in this case, Otter.ai, to transcribe articles, or in this case, a YouTube video.

This is the first story in a publication I’ve created called, “Heart Attacks and TBI’s”. I will be putting stories about my recovery in this publication. The transcriptions will likely be rough.

If you’re looking for help — dealing with trauma, then you might find these stories helpful. That is my goal.

Transcription

Hello, my name is Jon Johnston. I am a 59 year old IT consultant living in Minnesota.

On August 21 2015, I had a Widowmaker heart attack. I was working at a customer site. I fell over dead. I thought I had heartburn. My colleagues tried to figure out what was wrong and called 911. Paramedics arrived, started CPR. It was clear to them I had had a heart attack. They shocked me five times on the way to the hospital in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota - Hennepin County Medical Center - with no response. They shocked me two more times in the ER and brought me back. I was dead for over 20 minutes.