Kim Zalepa, Interlaken, NJ – 40 at time of event (2008)
It was their first skiing trip with the kids. Kim was feeling nervous, almost like a novice, since she hadn’t been skiing for over a decade. They’d had two daughters in eight years and felt it was time to enjoy a day in the snow that March. Kim and her husband,Todd, took the girls to Shawnee mountain in Pennsylvania for what they thought would be a day trip.
While the girls were in a beginner class, Kim and Todd tried out a simple trail to help Kim get her confidence. “I was more nervous that I was going to hurt someone else, by crashing into them,” Kim said with a chuckle. “I know how to snow plow, but I felt weak and something was wrong. I don’t know if was my nerves but half an hour later I finally got down this easy trail.” They stopped for lunch and then headed off with the kids. Kim still felt anxious and said, “Just let me go up by myself first.” She wanted to get her confidence up before they each took one of the girls up the mountain. So, Todd and the girls waited at the bottom of the ski lift. They waited, and waited, but Kim didn’t come back.
Dr Rogers, an obstetrician from New Jersey on a trip with his young son, saw some legs sticking out of a snow bank in a ravine under the ski lift. Frantically calling out to those below with no luck, he eventually got to the top. “He’s an expert skier, and left his son saying, ‘Wait for Mom, she’s coming up the mountain’ and he skied down as fast as he could.” Kim said breathlessly. “He hit somebody, a ski instructor or [staff member], over the head with his ski pole, telling them to get a defibrillator.” Dr Rogers was first on the scene, and found Kim unconscious and not breathing. Joel, a nurse also enjoying the ski slopes that day, stopped to assist with the CPR and a NY firefighter also helped out.
“He said [Dr Rogers was worried that] too much time had gone by.” They packed snow all around her body until the AED arrived with the ski patrol. Several shocks later Kim’s heart beat was restored and she was taken by skidoo to the bottom of the mountain. Kim then had an ambulance ride to the local hospital since the snow showers prevented the use of a helicopter.
Kim was stabilized in the brand new ICU and five days later she awoke to be told she had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, although of unknown cause. She had no brain damage, possibly due to lying in the snow for so long—a natural hypothermia treatment!
“I remember waking up. My husband was there, my sister-in-law was there. It was weird because a month before I had been thinking ‘What happens if you suddenly collapse and wake up in the hospital?’ asking ‘Why am I here?’ and wondering if I would freak out. So when it actually happened I had the opposite reaction—I was totally content, totally calm,” Kim said with wonder.
Although Kim had been born with a hole-in-the-heart defect and murmur, it didn’t affect her athletic achievements throughout childhood, track in high school and twenty years of gymnastics, so she didn’t concern herself about it. During her first pregnancy the OB/GYN also mentioned the murmur in her heart, but Kim felt it wasn’t anything to worry about. She always had low blood pressure, low cholesterol, and very healthy weight. However, during a normal physical for a new teaching job she was diagnosed with MVP (mitral valve prolapse) and given an ACE inhibitor to reduce the stress on her heart. Finally, was told she needed an ICD to protect her from another SCA. This cheerleader coach isn’t so sure about what is exactly going on with her heart. No answers are forthcoming, and there is even the specter of long QT syndrome with the potential for genetic testing.
“I’m more concerned about my daughters. The ICD is taking care of me, and now I just have to protect the next generation!” Kim said with some humor.
-Jeremy Whitehead