Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Georgia Mom Survives Several Heart Failures

Aired May 10, 2002 - 05:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's jump-start this Mother's Day weekend for you with an amazing story of a mother's heart. It has all the elements: love, courage, faith and, of course, experimental technology.

Our Medical Correspondent, Rhonda Rowland, is our storyteller.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you're going to ask for a miracle, you might as well be in a church.

TAMMY (ph) HIGGINS: We were over here and we were in the back pew.

ROWLAND: It was Tammy (ph) and Chris Higgins' first day as members in their new church in Woodstock, Georgia.

CHRIS HIGGINS: We were presented in front of the church, everything went well.

T. HIGGINS: And then after that we were escorted out the door.

ROWLAND: Into this hallway, where, without warning, Tammy (ph) suddenly collapsed. Her heart had stopped. Chris, who learned CPR as a high school lifeguard, started the pumping, the breathing, the hoping.

C. HIGGINS: There must have been four or five off-duty EMT and nurses that came to my assistance. And we gave CPR for what seemed like hours.

T. HIGGINS: And during the incident, Pastor Johnny (ph) had everybody at the 9:30 service get on their hands and knees and pray for me. So we truly believe in the power of prayer.

ROWLAND: Paramedics arrived and took over and eventually shocked Tammy's (ph) heart back to life.

C. HIGGINS: And that's when it started to hit me that, OK, 30 minutes without a pulse, 30 minutes without oxygen, you know, I'm probably going to lose my wife.

ROWLAND: Few people in her situation actually survive. (on camera): Tammy (ph), obviously, you don't remember any of this, but what do you think when you hear this story and that your husband really saved your life?

T. HIGGINS: It's amazing. Thank goodness -- you know, thank goodness for CPR, too. And the doctors said it wasn't just CPR, it was a good CPR.

ROWLAND (voice-over): He had saved her life. Their daughter Lindsay (ph), then just a toddler, would still have a mother. Story over? Not exactly.

When they got to the hospital, yet another surprise.

C. HIGGINS: "We just wanted you to know -- we didn't know if you were aware that your wife is about four weeks pregnant." So that was the first words out of the doctor's mouth.

ROWLAND: Doctors did not think the young mother's damaged heart could endure pregnancy, so they recommended terminating it.

C. HIGGINS: The next morning I was pretty comfortable with the decision I was going to have to make.

ROWLAND (on camera): Which was?

C. HIGGINS: Well, we were going to have to terminate the pregnancy. But that's when the miracle happened.

ROWLAND (voice-over): Tammy (ph), still not fully conscious, was transferred to a different hospital and into the care of Dr. Angel Leon -- that's right, Angel, angel, you're getting the picture. He had a new diagnosis: a simple heart rhythm disturbance and a new prognosis.

DR. ANGEL LEON, CRAWFORD LONG HOSPITAL: Here was a situation where I thought we could protect the health of the mother and at the same time let the pregnancy take its course.

ROWLAND: Dr. Leon had implanted a defibrillator, then still an experimental heart-shocking device. OK, so Dr. Angel Leon saved the baby. Story over? Not exactly.

Two weeks later, Tammy (ph) was home playing with Lindsay (ph) in this room.

T. HIGGINS: Then the next thing I knew, I was on the floor and woke up and Lindsay (ph) is just on top of me playing with me, you know? And thinking I'm funny or doing something.

ROWLAND: Her heart had stopped again. This time the defibrillator was in place to jump-start it.

C. HIGGINS: Without that inserted in her chest, I would have come back from the grocery store and found my wife dead.

ROWLAND: Instead, daughter Nicole (ph), now three, was born healthy.

T. HIGGINS: She's a miracle in herself because she went through this just as well as I did.

ROWLAND: OK, baby is born, mom survived. Well, that is pretty much the story. But Tammy (ph) and Chris say their miracle lives with them every day. And months later, at this Wal-mart, the defibrillator saved her life again.

C. HIGGINS: You know every day you just wake up and you roll over and there she is. And, you know, I just thank God every day for that -- that ability.

T. HIGGINS: Technology today, you know, is just amazing. You know, that I am going to be able to see my children, you know, live their lives and be with them through all of their happy times.

ROWLAND: Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Woodstock, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com