We’ve received word that a MIKEY (defibrillator) was used to save the life of a Kawartha Lakes man on October 28, 2013.  This is the seventeenth life saved by a MIKEY!

The MIKEY was located in a doctors office, which is part of the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team.  A doctor at the clinic used the AED, which after the first shock, was successful in getting the patients heart beating again.  The patient was then brought to the hospital for further treatment.

The City of Kawartha Lakes announced last year that all high risk public buildings in the city have been equipped with public access defibrillators (which we call MIKEYs).

Having a MIKEY available gave this man a second chance at life.  This is another example of why having an AED available in the first minutes of a cardiac emergency is so important. If we have our way, MIKEYs will be as common as fire extinguishers in public places.

Const. Andrew Rosbrook (R), and Det. Const. Laurie McCann (L), who helped save his life.

We just received some amazing news that we have to share. Tonight on The Mikey Network Facebook page, Officer Andrew Rosbrook, left this note telling his story.  Andrew’s story starts rough, but ends in the best, most inspirational way.

Just 5 months after collapsing from Sudden Cardiac Arrest at the Toronto Half Marathon, Andrew will be running in the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Run, from Toronto to Ottawa. He expects to run between 80 and 100 kilometres!

Here is Andrew’s story in his words:

” On May 5th, 2013, while nearing the finish of the Toronto Half Marathon, I collapsed. Within seconds, a police officer, two off duty doctors and a trainee paramedic were on scene. They rolled me over and realized I did not have a pulse and was not breathing. For close to seven minutes they performed CPR and AR on me.

Twice they thought they could feel a pulse and twice they realized that my heart was not pumping on its own. Two paramedics on bicycles arrived carrying a portable AED which had been provided by the Mikey Network. The pads were applied and I was shocked once. My heart started and I was transported to St Mikes Hospital where a stent was introduced to my left descending artery, which had become completely blocked.

After three days I was released from hospital and within a month I was running again. As an avid and experienced competitive runner, it would have been unimaginable for me not to run.

On September 26 (Five months after my cardiac arrest) I will be part of a team of 250 police officers and law enforcement professionals running from Toronto to Ottawa to honour those officers who have given their lives in the line of duty. We shall arrive in Ottawa on September 28. I expect to run somewhere in the region of 80 to 100 kilometres in the three day period.

I am doing this run not only to give thanks to fallen officers and support their families, but also to illustrate and highlight the awesome benefit of AED’s, the crucial role they played in my survival and recovery and my hope that one day they will be as commonplace in our society as fire extinguishers.

I have included the link for the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Run, which has a Toronto Star article about my collapse. If you see us running through the streets of Toronto or Ottawa or along Highway 2, pause for a moment and give us a cheer. Oh and I apologize if you are the one stuck behind us in traffic. https://www.facebook.com/460km

As a very poignant footnote, the police officer who helped save me, Laurie McCann, has become a very good friend and running partner of mine and will be running with me to Ottawa. “

We know you will join us in supporting Andrew as he runs in the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Run. His story is an inspiration to all of here at The Mikey Network.