A heartfelt thank you for an against-the-odds save

“Thank you doesn’t seem like enough” for Ruth Karrels.

“What does a person actually say when they meet the people who saved their life?”

That was what Karrels had to figure out during a Dec. 30 ceremony honoring her rescuers when she came face to face with the everyday heroes at the Belgium Fire Department who revived her after she suffered a near total blockage of an artery last fall.

The 71-year-old retired industrial seamstress only had about a 10% chance to live — that’s the national survival rate of those receiving CPR, Belgium Fire Chief Pat Wester noted in his report.

By the time Karrels reached Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, doctors had given her a 3% chance to live.

She beat the odds.

Karrels is recovering at home with the help of her husband Gary.

“It’s a miracle I’m here,” she said.

The call came in at 7:22 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. Karrels had fallen in her bedroom and was laying between the bed and wall. Her husband couldn’t get her up.

Belgium Rescue arrived in five minutes. Wester, Lt. Mike Bell, firefighter/emergency medical responder Sarah Heisler, Assistant Chief Chris Schmidt and EMS Lt. Dawn Wilsnack went to work, along with Ozaukee County Sheriff’s deputy Joe Tracy, who arrived at the same time.

Karrels was moved to the living room.

“It was immediately determined that she did not have a pulse and was not breathing,” Wester wrote in his report.

CPR was started. A minute later, a shock from an automatic external defibrillator was applied.

Karrels still had no pulse. CPR resumed.

At 7:35 a.m., Port Washington Fire Department Lt./paramedic Bethany Price and firefighter/paramedic Makenna Krim arrived and started advanced lifesaving skills, administering medications via IV and intraosseous, injecting meds directly into bone marrow.

A second shock was given at 7:37 a.m. Still no pulse. CPR resumed again.

Karrels’ brain was being denied oxygen, and her heart wasn’t beating.

At 7:40 a.m. — 10 minutes after initial CPR started —a pulse was detected.

While first responders were trying to save Karrels’ life, her husband called her daughters who were a three-and-a-half-hour drive away in Tomahawk to tell them what was happening.

“I know it had to be horrible on him,” Karrels said. “He was talking to her (a daughter) when they finally did get a pulse.”

A minute before pulse detection, the Fredonia Fire Department ambulance staffed by Deputy Chief Kyle Steffen, firefighter/EMT Josh Schultz and firefighter Brady Camara arrived to take Karrels to the hospital.

Karrels said a cardiologist determined that a piece of plaque broke loose and was bleeding and scabbing over close to her heart. Only 3% of people survive that condition.

“They didn’t expect me to make it,” she said.

Karrels woke up in the hospital with no memory of the incident.

“Let’s just put it this way. I remember none of it. I was out cold,” she said.

Her family filled her in on some, and she learned more at the fire department’s meeting on Dec. 30.

“It was educational for me,” Karrels said. “I learned how long they did CPR, how long it took them to get here — which wasn’t very long — and how things actually went.”

Karrels was in the hospital until Nov. 3, then spent time in a rehabilitation center at Ascension Medical Group in Mequon until Nov. 12.

Karrels has been working to get back to normal ever since. She still forgets some things and lets her husband do the driving.

“He’s my chauffeur, amongst many other things. He’s helping me out and being very patient,” she said.

“I’m feeling much better. At least I have a memory now. I’m making sure all my faculties are working. I’m being very cautious.”

Karrels had worked as head of sewing for a Mequon company. Now, she does it as a hobby.

“Sewing has been a lifelong thing for me,” she said.

She is also a member of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Belgium.

“I’m very blessed. God wants me here for a reason. I don’t know what it is yet,” Karrels said. “He said, ‘No, it’s not your time yet. You go back down there and behave yourself.’”

Wester is happy for the “great outcome” due to the work of 11 first responders. He presented lifesaving awards to the Belgium Fire Department members who responded.

“As the chief of the Belgium Fire Department, I am grateful to these individuals for their commitment not only to assisting members of our community but the residents of our surrounding communities as well,” he said in his report. “And I am honored to work alongside them each time we are called to serve those in need.”

Karrels was happy to see her heroes.

“They did a wonderful job, and it was really nice to meet them,” she said.