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CNN Live Today
Interview with Tammy, Chris Higgins
Aired May 10, 2002 - 10:52 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Many of us have circled Sunday on the calendar, or at least you should have. It is Mother's Day, don't forget. The traditional gifts of flowers or candy can't quite measure up to a Mother's Day gift that changed a Georgia family several years ago. It was the gift of life, and love and we hear that story now from our medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland.
(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 HIGGINS, MOTHER OF TWO: We were over here and we were in the back pew.
ROWLAND: It was Tammy and Chris Higgins' first day as members in their new church in Woodstock, Georgia.
CHRIS HIGGINS, HUSBAND OF TAMMY: 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 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 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, 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, 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 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 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)
KAGAN: Not quite end of story yet. We are going to continue the story. We have Tammy and Chris Higgins with us live here to share more of their remarkable story -- welcome. Thanks for being with us.
T. HIGGINS: Hi. Thank you.
KAGAN: First and foremost, how are you doing today?
T. HIGGINS: I am doing wonderful today, very active and doing great.
KAGAN: And the girls are OK?
T. HIGGINS: The girls are doing wonderful.
KAGAN: So it was your second daughter who you were pregnant with?
T. HIGGINS: Yes, it was Nicole, my second one.
KAGAN: And she didn't show any adverse effect of having been through this journey, shall we say?
T. HIGGINS: No, she is doing great. She is a wonderful, happy little girl.
KAGAN: Tell me about this defibrillator that is in your heart. Is this like what Dick Cheney, the vice president has.
T. HIGGINS: Yes, exactly what he has. It is installed right over here, it is just real small. They put it in between my muscle.
KAGAN: Can you feel it when it goes off?
T. HIGGINS: Yes, I can. KAGAN: Gets your attention?
T. HIGGINS: Oh, yes. And it beeps at me before, just to tell me...
KAGAN: Watch out.
T. HIGGINS: Watch out, yes.
KAGAN: Here it comes. Chris, want to bring you in here, as we heard in the story by Rhonda Rowland, of course, Tammy is the one this is happening to, but she can't remember a lot of it. You have the front-row seat. That has got to be a scary place to be.
C. HIGGINS: Yes. It was quite tenuous, to say the least. Didn't know what to expect, but thankfully I had Red Cross training, and was able to administer CPR to her.
KAGAN: And as they pointed out, not just CPR, but good CPR.
C. HIGGINS: Correct.
KAGAN: You did a good job.
C. HIGGINS: Thanks.
KAGAN: What about on a daily basis now? When you guys wake up every day, I would imagine there is a sense of gratitude, because you know how fleeting life is, more than some of us, but a sense of fear, is this the day the defibrillator doesn't go off?
C. HIGGINS: No.
T. HIGGINS: No.
C. HIGGINS: No, that was one of the conditions Dr. Leon made with us was that we are going to do this, and you are going to live a normal and happy life, and you are not going to be concerned or worry about it. And it was tough at first, but we have had it -- or she has had it in her for now, a little over four years, and really has become second nature.
KAGAN: And your prognosis now?
T. HIGGINS: It is great. I go to Dr. Leon every three months, and every time I go, it is just amazing that I am still here, and that it is working. That that is what Dr. Leon says. Every time it goes off, he is like, it is working, it is doing its job. So we are real thankful for it, and no fear whatsoever, very thankful to be alive each and every day.
KAGAN: And here to raise those two beautiful girls.
T. HIGGINS: Yes.
KAGAN: What are your plans for Mother's Day? T. HIGGINS: Oh.
KAGAN: Dad?
T. HIGGINS: Go to church, definitely, and be thankful to God for each and everyday that he blesses us with.
KAGAN: Very good. Well, thank you to both of us...
T. HIGGINS: Oh, thank you.
KAGAN: ... to both of you for sharing your story with us.
T. HIGGINS: Oh, well thank you...
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: Tammy and Chris Higgins. Happy Mother's Day.
T. HIGGINS: Oh, thank you.
KAGAN: Thank you, Tammy, and thank you both -- both of you. Great story.
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