The good doctor: Sandusky man saves neighbor's life

SANDUSKY — Dr. Reagan Bristol made the ultimate house call and, in the process, performed maybe the greatest neighborly act possible.Just after 6 a.m. on July 23, upon waking up to let his dogs out, Bristol saw a strange sight: A startled Caroline Linden pounded on a door to his Willow Drive home on the Cedar Point Chaussee."Quick, something is wrong with my dad!" said Caroline, referring to her father, Brad, who wouldn't wake up after he fell into an unconscious state.Prior to falling asleep the night before, everything appeared normal for Brad. He and his wife, Mickey, spent the day near Cleveland at Crocker Park, where they shopped, ate cheesecake and enjoyed a pleasant evening together."I woke up and nudged him, but he didn't budge and didn't do anything," Mickey said. "He usually would roll over but didn't this time. I then tried talking to him, and he didn't wake up..Mickey started to panic."The reason why I woke up is because I thought he was snoring, which turned out to be agonal (or abnormal) breathing, which is often referred to as the 'death rattle,'" Mickey said. "I kept trying to shake him. I yelled at him. But nothing was working. He wasn't responding. His eyes were rolled back in his head. I thought he had died."From left to right: David Linden, Sandusky firefighter Pat Hager, Caroline Linden, Dr. Reagan Bristol, Brad Linden, Sandusky fire Capt. Matt Lesch, Mickey Linden and Taylor Linden pose for a photo in the Linden household on Willow Drive. In July, Bristol performed CPR on an unconscious Brad, which ended up saving his life.A rescue actMickey told Caroline, her and Brad's daughter, to get help. Caroline sprinted outside and relayed the information to Bristol, their neighbor, who's a family medicine doctor with a practice on Campbell Street in Sandusky.Bristol hurriedly followed Caroline to the Linden household and found Brad laying motionless on a bed."His color did not look good at all," Bristol said.Upon receiving his medical license, Bristol remembered a patient requiring CPR must rest on a hard surface. So he enlisted David, the son of Brad and Mickey, to help lift Brad off the bed and onto the ground.Bristol pumped Brad's chest as Mickey simultaneously breathed inside Brad's mouth."This was the first time I had to perform CPR in an emergency situation," Bristol said. "Things started going through my mind, and I was trying to remember what I learned from my classes. I knew I had to (pump Brad's chest) hard and fast, and I started going as quick as I could."Because they live in such an isolated area, it took Sandusky firefighters several minutes to arrive on scene after receiving a 911 call. Bristol and Mickey ended up performing CPR for about 10 minutes, the period between placing an emergency call and when paramedics showed up.It initially appeared as if their life-saving attempts, while noble, failed. Brad didn't regain consciousness, and the likelihood a person survives after not responding to CPR after 6 minutes is grim.But Bristol wouldn't, or couldn't, stop because of what Mickey kept repeating."She sat there over him and said, 'Brad, you cannot die on me. We are not finished. We have a lot more things to do in life.' And I knew if I kept the blood flowing, there was a chance."When firefighters arrived, they stormed into the Linden home, hooked Brad up to a defibrillator and shocked him. A defibrillator, also referred to as an AED, sends an electrical current into a patient's body, jolting the heart in hopes of reviving someone.They ended up recovering Brad's pulse but not solely because of their actions."Because someone was doing CPR prior to our arrival, it makes the defibrillator process much more successful," said Sandusky fire Capt. Matt Lesch, who responded to the scene with fellow firefighters Tim Eckert, Bob Holmes, Kevin McGraw and Pat Hager.Simply put: Brad would have died without Bristol and Mickey performing CPR."So many times, we get to a scene where someone was lying there with no CPR done, and the chances of survival in those scenarios can be very slim," Lesch said.In July, Sandusky resident Dr. Reagan Bristol, right, performed CPR on his neighbor, Willow Street resident Brad Linden, which ended up saving his life. "I'm just thankful I was at home, awake and had the training to do CPR," Bristol said. "You never want to be put in that situation, but when it happens, you want to be ready."A hero among usDuring the next week, Brad stayed at two hospitals, including an initial stint at Firelands Regional Medical Center, where doctors iced his body temperature to 91 degrees for two straight days. It took almost one additional full day to warm his body back up."They made his body cold to slow down all of his organs," Mickey said.While in the intensive care unit, Brad's loved ones worried about his physical and mental conditions going forward."There was a less than 1 percent chance he could survive with no brain damage," Bristol said.When Brad finally woke up three days after the incident, he knew his name but not what year it was."I couldn't think," Brad said. "I kept saying 1979. That's the year I graduated high school."On that following Saturday, doctors felt encouraged by Brad's vitals, allowing him to return home and reunite with his family. He even regained all his memory and proudly told everyone, upon leaving, the year was 2017."They couldn't believe he had recovered," Mickey said.So what happened to cause this trauma?"It was my low potassium levels," Brad said. "I take blood pressure medicine, and one I have been taking for a number of years wasn't working. I was urinating out more potassium from my kidneys than I should have been. I wasn't getting enough electrolytes to my brain."This past week, the Lindens invited Bristol, the firefighters and the Register into their home to publicly share what they kept mostly private for about three months."I'm very grateful for what everyone did for me," said Brad, who works as a launch manager and engineer for Michigan-based American Axle & Manufacturing.Together he and Mickey have four children: Caroline, David, Taylor and Catherine."As a husband and dad, you worry about your kids and worry about leaving them," Brad said. "You never worry about yourself. But I am very grateful my family responded right away, and I'm very thankful for what Reagan did."Mickey, a part-time secretary at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sandusky, believes a higher power also played a role in this."All I could do was pray that he would live," Mickey said. "That day and throughout this event, our family, friends and neighbors all sent texts and phone calls letting us know that they were praying for Brad and had added him to prayer chains. I believe this is what truly let him survive."Bristol, a modest man, said he just did what any doctor, or good-natured person, would have done."I'm humbled they call me a hero," Bristol said. "I don't deserve that. I'm just thankful I was at home, awake and had the training to do CPR. You never want to be put in that situation, but when it happens, you want to be ready."How to perform CPRCardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, can help save a life during a cardiac or breathing emergency. But even after training, remembering the CPR steps and administering them correctly can be a challenge.The American Red Cross has created a simple step-by-step guide to help people.Before giving CPR1. Check the scene and the person. Make sure the scene is safe, then tap the person on the shoulder and shout, "Are you OK?" to ensure that the person needs help.2. Call 911 for assistance. If it's evident that the person needs help, call, or ask a bystander to call, 911, then send someone to get an AED. If an AED is unavailable, or a there is no bystander to access it, stay with the victim, call 911 and begin administering assistance.3. Open the airway. With the person lying on his or her back, tilt the head back slightly to lift the chin.4. Check for breathing. Listen carefully, for no more than 10 seconds, for sounds of breathing. Occasional gasping sounds do not equate to breathing. If there is no breathing, begin CPR.While giving CPR1. Push hard, push fast. Place your hands, one on top of the other, in the middle of the chest. Use your body weight to help you administer compressions that are at least 2 inches deep and delivered at a rate of at least 100 compressions per minute.2. Deliver rescue breaths. With the person's head tilted back slightly and the chin lifted, pinch the nose shut and place your mouth over the person's mouth to make a complete seal. Blow into the person's mouth to make the chest rise. Deliver two rescue breaths, then continue compressions.Note: If the chest does not rise with the initial rescue breath, re-tilt the head before delivering the second breath. If the chest doesn't rise with the second breath, the person may be choking. After each subsequent set of 100 chest compressions, and before attempting breaths, look for an object and, if seen, remove it.3. Continue CPR steps. Keep performing cycles of chest compressions and breathing until the person exhibits signs of life, such as breathing, an AED becomes available, or EMS or a trained medical responder arrives on scene.Note: End the cycles if the scene becomes unsafe or you cannot continue performing CPR due to exhaustion.Reach reporter Andy Ouriel at ouriel@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @AndyOuriel.