CrossFitters save one of their own after heart attack at gym
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REXBURG — A community of local CrossFitters is honoring several of its members after they saved a man following a heart attack that nearly killed him.
On Friday, Madison Memorial Hospital held a HERO ceremony for four individuals involved in the rescue of Howard Egan. The Rexburg man suffered a devastating heart attack and stopped breathing after a workout at Teton CrossFit in early December. Thankfully, fellow CrossFitters were there to get him the help he needed.
What Happened
It all started on a normal day for Egan. He got up at 4:30 a.m on Dec. 6, got out of bed, kissed his wife, Tauna, goodbye and left for his morning workout. It’s a rigorous routine he keeps up six days a week. Howard — or the Barbarian as they call him at Teton CrossFit — is an avid CrossFitter who even finds a gym when he travels. Staying fit has always been a top priority for him.
After a full workout that morning, he was helping to clean up the weights when he suddenly collapsed and began to shake. Nani Bartholick, a fellow CrossFitter and medical assistant, immediately went to his aid.
“We all thought he was having a seizure and he just started shaking, so we all just said, ‘OK, let’s let it ride out and see if it really was a seizure.’ After a little less than a minute he stopped shaking, but he also stop breathing,” Bartholick said.
She and three other gym members called 911 and began CPR. She said it seemed like they waited forever before the ambulance got there, but it also all seemed to happen so fast. They switched off doing compressions and breathing until the paramedics arrived.
When the ambulance arrived at Teton CrossFit, they shocked Howard twice, and once they got a heartbeat, transported him to Madison Memorial Hospital.
Meanwhile, Tauna Egan had left for her 6 a.m. shift as a nurse in the emergency room. She had just arrived at the hospital went the ambulance call came in — first for a seizure and then a few minutes later paramedics said that CPR was in progress.
Tauna went in to check the trauma room to make sure everything would be ready for the incoming patient.
“When I came back out to the nurses’ station, my co-worker came up to me and took me by the arms and told me it was Howard,” Tauna said.
Tauna was anxiously awaiting when the ambulance arrived. Doctors soon realized how serious it was and Howard was transported by air ambulance to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.
Just over a week later, Howard underwent open heart surgery. Bartholick and the others that performed CPR visited the Egans in the hospital before he went into surgery.
“Those were some emotional moments when they came, and we saw them for the first time, because how do you tell someone who saved your husband’s life thank you? There were a lot of tears and a lot of hugging. What a blessing that they took action immediately,” Tauna said.
A family history
Howard Egan has a family history of heart problems. His grandfather, father and a brother all have suffered major heart attacks. He was doing everything he could to try to beat the odds and thought he was. He exercised daily — in fact, he did Spartan races last summer — was on cholesterol medication and visited his doctor often. They have had people tell them that he shouldn’t be exercising as hard as he was. But the Egans strongly disagree.
“We believe that because he was this active, he has been strong enough to withstand all of this. He had a strong heart, he had strong lungs. So for the three years he has been doing CrossFit, I believe it saved his life. And actually saved his life twice. Because he was at CrossFit when it happened and there were people there who knew what to do,” Tauna said.
They also would like to encourage everyone to get CPR trained. It was the quick thinking of people trained in lifesaving CPR that was probably one of the reasons the cardiac event had such a positive outcome.
But that’s not the end of the story. Teton CrossFit is like a family as its clientele range from teenagers to seniors. Everyone encourages and supports each other. People who are trying CrossFit for their first time work out are right along side someone who has been working out for years.
In fact a co-owner of the gym, Tyler Martin, said one of his members started the morning of Howard’s heart attack.
“It was his first day at the gym when this happened to Howard, and Howard had introduced himself about two minutes before he went unconscious — which is very like Howard to introduce himself to everybody and instantly be their friend,” Martin said.
So Martin and Trent Shaw, the other co-owner of the gym, went into help mode. They knew it was going to be expensive for Howard and his family so they decided to sell T-shirts with #howardstrong, a slogan Tauna used on her Facebook page, printed on them. They knew everyone would want to help were they could.
After the first orders started coming in, they decided that it would be more beneficial for everyone if they started a GoFundMe account and offer a T-shirt for every $20 people donate.
When the Egans heard about the fundraising effort, they were grateful, but their thoughts immediately went to others.
“I went down and visited Howard and Tauna today, and Tauna said that they would like if we used part of the money to buy an AED (automated external defibrillator) for the gym. So we are going to do that and then the rest of the money will go to the Egans. They are just dang good people. In a time like this they are just thinking about others,” Martin said.
Egan’s recovery has been smooth, and he was able to go home Dec. 17.