Whole-hearted

At age 37, Zac Harris was a healthy father of four. He was careful with his diet. He skied regularly. He ran even more regularly — on road, off road — rain (or snow) or shine. By all measures, he was the healthiest he had been in decades — certainly not a prime candidate for a heart attack. But the math doesn’t always add up in life.

“I’ve always loved to run,” Zac said. “I had set a goal for a race I wanted to run and was running a lot more. I felt a lot better with the energy I had on the Keto diet and the weight I had lost. And life was good.”

One beautiful Utah spring day in April, he went on a 13-mile run from his home in North Salt Lake to downtown Salt Lake and back. He felt great. He took a selfie to send to his wife to let her know he was on his way home. About four miles from home, however, he passed out on the trail. When he came to, he sent out an SOS to some friends and eventually his wife, who charted his location and met him along the trail. Not thinking much of it, he chalked it up to dehydration and the couple returned home. Soon after walking through the door, however, he collapsed again. Zac was in full cardiac arrest.

“Once she realized I wasn’t waking up, my wife called 911 and then immediately started chest compressions,” Zac recalled, fighting back tears. “She is CPR certified, so she knew what to do and was quick to act, which is probably the biggest reason I’m still here.”

The EMTs arrived, got him stabilized, and took him to Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah, where he received a stent and was put in a medically-induced coma to lower his body temperature in order to preserve brain function. After being stabilized, some in his circle of influence thought he should be transferred to a bigger hospital.

“My wife felt strongly that I needed to stay at Lakeview and I honestly believe that, had I been transferred somewhere else, the result may have not been the same because of the treatment I was able to receive,” Zac said. “It couldn’t have turned out any better.”

He doesn’t remember a lot about his stay in the hospital — only bits and pieces. The results, however, speak for themselves. He’s healthy. His heart function is back up within normal range. And he’s running again. He has gone on a few trail runs – not quite as many as before, but mostly because his wife doesn’t want him to go by himself. Understandably — by wife’s orders — he’s got to stay where he has cell phone reception.

Things have slowly returned to normal for Zac, yet with a whole new outlook on life.

“Having died and then being able to survive, it gives you a different perspective on life,” he said. “I appreciate it more, especially the little things. There are a lot of times where we’ll be doing something simple as a family and I’ll get choked up and realize ‘I almost wasn’t here for this’.”