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JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — An Idaho Falls man is lucky to be alive after suffering a severe heart attack while backcountry skiing with his wife and friends.
Those friends, along with workers from two agencies, were honored as “East Idaho Real Heroes” by the American Red Cross last week, EastIdahoNews.com reports.
The ordeal for Mike and Julie Connolly, Jon Cook and Randy Lee began as a normal day last March as the group began their ski trip at Grand Teton National Park.
They were on their way up Maverik Peak and decided to stop for lunch when Mike Connolly began to feel a little off.
“I started to get a little nondescript pain in the center of my chest,” he recalls. “I thought it was indigestion – thought I was hungry.”
After eating lunch, the experienced 61-year-old skier went to adjust his ski. That’s when he became lightheaded and rolled onto his side into the snow.
“The three of them were standing there looking at me and I sat there for a few minutes,” Mike Connolly said. “I said, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.'”
Incredibly, Julie Connolly was able to get a cell phone signal and her 911 call was routed to Grand Teton National Park.
“We were able to talk to his party, get the nature of what his illness was and we determined that he very well could be having a cardiac event,” Grand Teton Park spokesman Scott Guenther told EastIdahoNews.com.
Grand Teton park officials immediately contacted the Teton County Wyoming search and rescue squad who initiated their helicopter. The key was getting Mike Connolly off of the mountain as quickly and safely as possible.
“When we first flew over the scene, we could see the party and the patient and everyone looked like they were awake and responsive,” Teton County Search and Rescue spokeswoman Jessica King said.
The helicopter couldn’t land next to Mike because of the steep mountain but the plan was to lower a harness, strap Mike Connolly in and then fly him to safety.
He began preparing for the flight when suddenly things drastically changed.
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“I was going take my jacket off and reconfigure my clothing to get a little bit warmer,” Mike Connolly said. “That’s when I got this kind of blushing, flushing really lightheaded feeling and fell over into the snow.”
Lee and Cook began CPR as Julie Connolly watched helplessly. The helicopter came back, ready to pick Mike Connolly up, and that’s when the crew realized something wasn’t right.
“I can see this up and down motion and my heart sunk,” Guenther remembers “I was like, ‘Oh, no’ and got on the radio before we even put our feet in the ground. I said that we have CPR in progress and we’re gonna need some more help.”
The chopper flew to a landing spot where a doctor and medic could fasten themselves to a rope. They then rode in, dangling from the helicopter, until they could unhook from the rope on the mountain.
The doctor used a defibrillator on Mike Connolly and after several long minutes, his heart began beating on its own.
“I don’t remember if it was Scott or Will yelling in my face but I did hear them,” Mike Connolly said.
The emergency crew loaded him into a cradle attached at the end of a rope from the chopper. He was transported to another medical helicopter where he was then flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
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“They call it the widow maker,” Mike Connolly said. “If you look at the electrical signal from the heart, they call it the tombstone signal because of what the pulse path looks like.”
Mike Connolly ended up with three stints and, over the past year, has continued to recover from his heart attack.
A few weeks ago, he went back on the same mountain and finished the ski adventure he wasn’t unable to complete a year ago.
Lee and Cook, along with the Grand Teton National Park Rangers and the Teton County Search and Rescue squad, were honored for their heroic actions during an American Red Cross luncheon March 8 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Idaho Falls.
All of the heroes involved that day said they are grateful things ended the way they did.
“This is a once in a lifetime event. For somebody to have a full heart attack in the backcountry and have rescuers be able to get to the scene in time – it’s amazing,” Guenther said.
King added, “We don’t get the opportunity to have a rescue where everything lined up. It still gives me goosebumps for sure.”
