The Morroney Miracle at Gulf Coast Medical Center

Estero residents Pat and Mary Ann Morroney thought June 28, 2009 would be an average Sunday. They didn’t realize miracles were soon to be in their future. They went about their regular activities of attending church, eating breakfast out, shopping and errands, and stopping off to get their car washed on the way home. As Mary Ann took their purchases inside and called her brother, Pat dried off the car in the garage. But when Mary Ann opened the door to call Pat in for dinner, he was gone. She went around the side of the car and found him lying on the floor, purple, not breathing and without a pulse.

“I put him on his back, and went inside to call 911,” Mary Ann says. “I am a retired nurse and know how to do CPR, but I didn’t have enough room between the cars to do chest compressions.” Just then, a stranger walked up and asked if she needed help. He ended up doing compressions while she counted and blew air into Pat’s mouth, trying to revive him. When an ambulance arrived, the technicians shocked Pat’s chest with a defibrillator without success. The situation looked grim.

“When we got to the Gulf Coast Medical Center emergency room, he didn’t have a heartbeat,” Mary Ann says, “but his doctor there, Jeffrey Scott, wouldn’t give up. He worked on Pat for an hour and 50 minutes and managed to get him stabilized.”

Pat’s heart was beating, but it wasn’t pumping oxygen to his brain or body. Though doctors warned he only had a 13 to 17 percent chance of making it through the night, they continued with tests and consultations to determine what was wrong and how to make Pat better.

The next afternoon, something miraculous happened – Pat started coming back to life. His nurses thought his responses were just reflexes until the neurologist had Pat track his fingers. Two days later, with Mary Ann and his children by his side, Pat was taken off his respirator and moved to a step down unit. On Sunday, July 5 – one week after Pat’s collapse – he was moved into a postcardiac unit.

On Wednesday, having deemed Pat well enough for surgery, Dr. Murali Muppala installed a pacemaker/defibrillator in Pat’s chest and on Friday, he was released to go home.

“I had called my kids to ask them to come say goodbye, but they ended up being here to witness their father’s amazing recovery,” Mary Ann says. “The care at Gulf Coast Medical Center was excellent. They didn’t give up and didn’t stop. Every time I asked questions, they answered me as best they could. I’m very thankful they took care of Pat the way they were supposed to.”

“Mysterious heart conditions seem to run in my family,” Pat says. “My aunt and cousin both have defibrillators implanted. A few people have died without any symptoms of heart disease or warning. ” He remembers nothing about his ordeal from the time he entered the car wash to when he woke up in the hospital’s postcardiac unit.

Pat spent the next 12 weeks in HealthPark Medical Center’s cardiac rehabilitation program. “At first, I didn’t want to go but once I started, I didn’t not want to go,” he says. “Once I decided I needed to do it, I really enjoyed it.”

“The staff couldn’t get over how well he was doing,” Mary Ann adds. “They encouraged him, but also set boundaries so he didn’t try to do too much too fast. They were wonderful.”

On October 13, Pat went back to work cutting hair. Both he and Mary Ann are grateful for the care he received and thankful the Gulf Coast Medical Center team didn’t give up on him.

“I started volunteering at HealthPark Medical Center at the end of last year in the units,” Mary Ann says. “I work as a liaison between nurses and doctors, visit with and assist patients, answer questions about their care, that sort of thing. It’s my way of giving back for the excellent care Pat received.”