On the evening of Sunday, May 15, Butch experienced sudden, sharp chest pains and collapsed in the living room. With quick thinking & CPR performed by his son Zach, he came to and was somewhat responsive; thankfully first responders arrived shortly thereafter and began medical intervention. He was transported to St. Cloud Hospital by ambulance where they suspected a major heart attack.
An Angiogram revealed no blockage in his heart, but that his heart muscle was only pumping at 20% output; major organ functions require at least 50% for sustainability. Many Cardiologists were called in to determine why, an otherwise healthy, 54 year old man's heart simply stopped pumping efficiently. Because his blood pressure continued to drop dangerously low with repeated chest compressions necessary, the Cardiology Team decided to perform an emergency surgery and placed Butch on ECMO, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. The machine performs two important functions, putting oxygen into his blood and then pumping it around his body to his vital organs; essentially it's supercharged life support. It was then determined that Butch would need be transported to The University of Minnesota for continued ECMO intervention so that a diagnosis could be determined.
He arrived at UMMC around 4:00PM on Monday, May 16.
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