Clinton couple share their story of cardiac arrest survival

As was their custom, Russ and Annette Charles rose before the sun Thursday morning to spend time talking, checking Facebook, and reading the news together before heading off their separate directions to work.

This morning, the Clinton, Mo., couple was causally discussing the 100-mile century bicycle race Russ would compete in that weekend, and where along the route Annette could best meet him with drinks and snacks to fuel his body.

Annette was facing away from him when she heard Russ make a funny noise. She glanced over to where he was sitting at the computer to see what funny meme he’d seen on Facebook.

Instead, what she saw was her 53-year-old husband slumped in a chair, not breathing.

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It was a perfect family day. Shane and Jennifer Hall and their four children spent Saturday morning attending their oldest son's football game in Harrisonville, Mo., before heading to his parent's farm near Oak Grove to spend the rest of the day.

Shane, Jennifer and their kids help his parents grow large gardens there, and it was time to harvest the pumpkins. They hitched the hay wagon to the tractor and filled it with pumpkins from the field.

On a cold mid-November morning last year, Gayle Hunt finished fixing breakfast for her two kids and went into her bedroom to finish getting ready to head off to work. She sat down and felt an intense pain in her lower abdomen, which began creeping higher and higher into her torso.

She knew something terrible was happening.

As part of their 60th wedding anniversary celebration, Members Bob and Maurine Clem visited LifeFlight Eagle's base and helicopter in Trenton and met its crew.

When Bob Clem woke up, he felt funny.

"It felt like somebody was a sittin' on me," he remembered.

His wife was working at a 4-H camp and he was home alone, so he decided to drive himself to the doctor to get checked out.

"I thought maybe something's happening, I better go see about this. Those dumb things that you do when you don't know any better."

It turned out he was having a heart attack.

"I farmed all my life. Heck, you know, I've been bummed up, run over, kicked and everything else. It wasn't too bad."

But it was bad enough that after examining him, doctors at Wright Memorial Hospital in Trenton, Mo. knew that without specialized attention, Bob's life was in grave danger.

"I knew right away it was his heart," said Helen Ramsey. "He was setting up his guitar when he started gasping for air and he fell forward and hit his head."

Phil Ramsey's heart had stopped beating and he was in sudden cardiac arrest.

Ramsey, an active 70 year-old musician and retiree, was setting up his steel guitar and preparing for a band performance at the New Life Assembly of God church in Archie, Mo., when he collapsed.

Jackson Hill had his summer planned out. He was working out, getting ready for his senior football season at Lee's Summit High School. The 17-year-old had a well-paying job with a moving company that helped him bulk up for his starting spot as an outside linebacker. He had just finished football camp and was looking forward to a little time off.

Instead, he spent the summer fighting for his life.

Because Jean and Jim Bishop were LifeFlight Eagle members, they owed nothing out-of-pocket for the flight that helped save Jim’s life after he suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed.

Jim Bishop came home from work in Chillicothe early on Nov. 30 because he wasn’t feeling well. Ten minutes later, he collapsed at the bottom of the stairs — his heart stopped.

His wife, Jean, heard him fall and ran to Jim, who was gasping for air, barely breathing.

She called 911 and started CPR.

Cleatus Burnine was feeling achy and sore like he was coming down with the flu, so he went to see his doctor.

Burnine, of Richmond, Mo., said he didn't think much of it when his doctor told him to go to Ray County Memorial Hospital to get an electrocardiograph or an EKG.

"I go regularly to North Kansas City Hospital to get checked out ever since I had my [heart] stents three years ago," Burnine said.

But within minutes of arriving at the hospital, physicians determined that Burnine was in much more immediate peril.

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Charles Braithwait was always on time. That's why his wife, Sandra, was worried when he was several minutes late to pick her up for an after-work dinner date.

After waiting several minutes, she called his cell phone.

"He'd been trying to get his phone out of his pocket. He said 'Sandra, come quickly — I'm sick."

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It was a typical Wednesday evening at work on Dec. 2, 2009, for mechanic Harold Denman. He was working on a truck when he started feeling a little queasy.

"There had been a bug going around, so I just thought I was getting a cold, didn't think much of it," said 56-year-old Denman.

But his supervisor saw something Denman didn't see.