No heartbeat for 70 minutes, but CPR saved him

David (left) now has a new perspective on life after nearly dying from a cardiac arrest in April. He was saved due to his wife (right) and her grandson’s quick start of CPR on him. — TNS

When David Mills of Vista, California, United States, went into cardiac arrest on April 8 (2023), it took 70 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restore his regular heartbeat.

Now, telling his story after 11 weeks of recovery, the retired carpenter says he does not remember much about the time he spent unconscious, his heart locked in a seizure-like pattern called ventricular fibrillation that stopped the vital organ from pumping blood.