Cardiac arrests, then a coma. How a therapy dog helped a Broward patient recover
Priscilla Timmons remembers rushing to the bathroom to vomit. Then, her eyesight went dark.
Grabbing the sink’s counter, she eased herself onto the floor. Unable to speak, the 38-year-old shakily used a finger to text her mom, who was in the living room:
In bathroom. Going to pass out. Call 911.
That was earlier this year, March 13. An ambulance took the Hollywood resident to Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines. Her left leg was rapidly swelling. She was struggling to breathe.
The last thing Timmons remembers is telling nurses, “Don’t let me die.”
Timmons’ family paced the ICU, praying and waiting for her to wake up. At first, the outcome wasn’t looking good. But the next day, 7-year-old Scrunchie, one of Memorial’s therapy dogs, walked up to her bedside. Timmons felt Scrunchie’s paw. And for the first time since she was put in a coma, Timmons responded, moving her hand slightly, searching for the pup.
Memorial doctors believed Timmons had a less than 10% chance of survival. But that moment sparked hope that she would defy the odds — and marked the beginning of her recovery journey. On Wednesday, Timmons, who has since made a full recovery, teared up as she thanked the doctors and nurses who cared for her.
“In my eyes, faith and medicine go hand-in-hand,” she said. “There’s the science aspect, which consists of studies and medicine to treat us when we get sick. Then there’s the faith aspect, which helps give you hope to lean on, that helps keep you going.”
Dr. Dan Mayer, chief of critical care at Memorial Healthcare System, one of the public hospital systems in Broward County, said Timmons had “looked blue” when she arrived to the hospital back in March. She was lightheaded and dizzy, her blood pressure, low.
A CT scan showed she had a massive pulmonary embolism, blood clots that block and stop blood flow to the lungs. Doctors treated her with a clot-busting medication. At first, it seemed to work. Then, she went into cardiac arrest — again and again and again.
It took doctors 41 minutes of resuscitation, with a second dose of the clot-busting medication, before her pulse was restored.
But the outcome wasn’t looking good. Her heart, liver, kidneys and other oxygen-deprived organs were failing.
“It’s really one of those miraculous cases,” said Mayer, who treated Timmons during her three-week hospitalization.
‘God told me to fight’
Patients who experience massive pulmonary embolism are usually at higher risk for death compared to patients who experience heart attacks. Combined with her multi-organ failure, her survival chances were extremely low, according to Mayer.
“Hearing that someone you love has a low chance of survival really shakes you to your core,” said Macy Shea, Timmons’ niece and best friend, an OR nurse who works at Memorial Regional Hospital.
Doctors often tell people to speak to their comatose loved one, though not every patient remembers what was said to them. But Timmons does.
Her cousin Kristi Knapp promised her a pedicure. Another cousin, Kandi Barnwell, debated with Knapp over who used to braid Timmons’ hair better. The Memorial patient said she also remembers what she can only describe as a dream: a silhouette of a man who looked like her father wagging his finger “no” at her, as if telling her now was not her time.
Timmons, an avid dog lover, also remembers hearing that a dog had come to visit her. Her excitement to pet the golden retriever while comatose gave her “the strength to just move and lift [my hand] up and look for the dog.”
“God told me to fight, so I did with all my heart, even when my heart stopped beating,” she added.
Timmons said she plans to use social media and merchandise from her newly launched Etsy shop to spread awareness about blood clots and the importance of talking to loved ones who are in a coma. On Wednesday, she gave the medical team who cared for her “Miracle Worker” keychains.
“Thank you for not giving up on me,” said a teary-eyed Timmons. “Everyone has their fight. It’s how you fight that matters. ... Yes, I’m a miracle, but it’s because of you. You are all true miracle workers.”
