Linda Kuhn, Millport, AL – 50 at time of event (1996)
It was hot. June in Alabama tends to be that way. Linda was finalizing her purchases at a yard sale when the heat became too much for her. She was under some stress as well, having just moved from being assistant director of nursing to working with a nursing home, and dealing with a failing marriage. She felt that everything was in turmoil.
“I paid for my stuff and fell back stone dead,” Linda said without emotion. Her second daughter, Melissa, is also a nurse and was there to see it happen. Apparently, Linda had complained of feeling tired, and kept stretching her arm out as though it was stiff or cramping up. Melissa recommended a visit to the hospital to check out her heart. But first Linda needed to pay for her items.
“Well, I never got out, I fell back dead!” Linda said with a laugh. “The girl who was taking my money, she’s a good friend of mine, said ‘I turned around and didn’t know where you were.’ She couldn’t see me on the floor!” Melissa started CPR immediately.
“A girl I’d taught CPR to came to help, and my daughter said ‘Call 9-1-1, my Momma’s had a heart attack! ’ but I don’t remember any of it.”
She does, however, remember something unique and very special. It is also somewhat hard to comprehend, even for Linda.
“It’s more real than the chair I’m sitting in!” she said as a prelude. What could be more real than her chair? Her visit to another place, meeting Jesus and her long gone Grandparents. It was more than a religious experience, it was an awakening. Linda has believed in Christ since around 11 years of age, and she is convinced her arrest provided the opportunity to feel His power.
“I really believe God said ‘Lay down and let me talk to you a minute.’ And then he [brought] me back up.” You can read her account here
It took 48 hours for Linda to stabilize, and then she was taken to Memphis, TN where she remained in hospital for three months. The records show she arrested seven times in the helicopter trip, and she suffered some brain damage and severe amnesia.
“I had my brain wiped clean!” Linda exclaimed. “I didn’t know anything.” The rehabilitation was intensive, and lasted several months, including learning how to write again, and even recalling her personal details like the names of her family and their faces. She also received an ICD, and went home to an empty house.
Linda recalls her marriage vows with a different perspective now, especially those words till death do you part.
“Well, I died and he departed” Linda cried. “That’s what really happened!
It truly was a terrible time for her, but that short visit to Heaven brought about a new beginning. According to her children Linda’s personality changed. And, she also met a new man, someone who cares for her and looks after her.
“He’s Prince Charming. He saw a woman who was sick and couldn’t do things. He started to come and see me.” After some persistence Robert finally convinced her to marry him. “He’s just the opposite of the other one.”
Their life is full and rewarding, and very different to Linda’s life before the arrest. The cause of her arrest hasn’t been conclusively determined.
“I was overweight, but my doctors tell me that had nothing to do with it. It was hereditary. I’ve got clear arteries, it [her arrest] was all electrical,” Linda explained. Several family members have died suddenly, and her 84 year-old father also has an ICD implanted to protect him. There was one unexpected consequence of Linda’s memory issues, “I didn’t have mind enough to know what it [the ICD] was, and one day I scratched the wound. It was itchy, and next minute I had it [the ICD] in my hand!” Linda said. “I called out ‘Melissa come in here. I’ve got something here, I don’t know what it is!” Luckily, she hadn’t pulled the wires out, and they were able to stitch it up again at the hospital.
In 2003 Linda learnt just how effective an ICD is. At every visit to her cardilogist, Linda would say she was very concerned about whether she would feel it.
“I’d ask him ‘Has it ever shocked me?’ and he’d say ‘No. You’ll know.’ Well the day it did...” It was a hot day again, and she was sitting in her chair, but felt so weak, almost passing out. Fortunately, her husband was in the room.
“He said I bounced off the chair!” Linda chuckled. “He asked me ‘Lord, what are you doing?’ I said I didn’t know. He then said ‘I bet that thing you’ve got went off!’ ”
They went to the doctor and sure enough the device had delivered a shock.
“It worked fine.” Linda said with a touch of pride.
-Jeremy Whitehead