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Late Thursday night, for no known reason, Joe’s heart stopped. If not for the quick reaction of his wife, Joe would not be with us today. At the direction of an angel in the form of a 911 dispatcher, Marissa gave chest compressions to Joe until the paramedics arrived. They were able to deliver an electric shock to get Joe’s heart beating, and from there he was rushed to Christiana Care ICU, leaving our entire family lost and terrified for what the outcome would be. To our absolute dismay, their two young daughters ages 9 and 13 witnessed the entire horrific ordeal. Thankfully their 10-month-old son was asleep at the time.
Joe was intubated and put in a hypothermic state, to allow his organs the ability to work to heal. It was determined that Joe was seven minutes without oxygen to his brain, which causes levels of unknown damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs… and yes, the brain.
The ICU team reduced Joe’s sedation numerous times: he was not able to breath on his own and was not responding to any commands. We feared the worst and sent out requests for prayer to everyone we could. At hour 32 post cardiac arrest, the sedation was reduced for another attempt at any sort of neurological or respiratory response. Joe not only began to breath on his own, but he gained consciousness and asked, “What happened to me?” To the shock, amazement and joy of the entire unit and our family, Joe was not only awake, but talking!
From Saturday morning on, Joe’s organs continued to trend towards improvement. Although there was still no explanation for why his heart stopped, and there was a pending MRI of his brain, Joe faced a major setback on Sunday morning when it was discovered that he was suffering from Ventricular Tachycardia, an extremely irregular heartbeat, and he would remain in the ICU until further prognosis of his unknown heart condition.
Monday morning after a scope of Joe’s heart, it was found that he has four clogged arteries and will need a quadruple-bypass, scheduled for Tuesday morning. We found out late Monday that this was caused from a genetic heart disease.
As we await more information to be provided from his care team in the ICU at Christiana Hospital, we are so relieved to see Joe improve each day. Although Joe is exhibiting very high level of brain function, he is struggling to talk and is very forgetful from one conversation to the next. A lot of that could be attributed to medications and exhaustion from the trauma that his body has been through. Only time will tell of any extent of brain damage.
Marissa is a full-time stay-at-home mom and home-school teacher to her children. Through what can only be described as extremely traumatic events, Marissa is a true hero! God used her as a tool to save Joe’s life that night. He has a very long road ahead of him, and with that there is the unknown of when he will be able to return to work and at what capacity. We are hoping to help raise funds to cover incurred medical expenses not covered by health insurance and help with some of their household bills while Joe is in recovery.
Our entire family is beyond grateful to everyone who has reached out, and for your prayers. Anything you can contribute is greatly appreciated, if only your prayers. Much love to all.
- The L'Italien Family
Joe was intubated and put in a hypothermic state, to allow his organs the ability to work to heal. It was determined that Joe was seven minutes without oxygen to his brain, which causes levels of unknown damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs… and yes, the brain.
The ICU team reduced Joe’s sedation numerous times: he was not able to breath on his own and was not responding to any commands. We feared the worst and sent out requests for prayer to everyone we could. At hour 32 post cardiac arrest, the sedation was reduced for another attempt at any sort of neurological or respiratory response. Joe not only began to breath on his own, but he gained consciousness and asked, “What happened to me?” To the shock, amazement and joy of the entire unit and our family, Joe was not only awake, but talking!
From Saturday morning on, Joe’s organs continued to trend towards improvement. Although there was still no explanation for why his heart stopped, and there was a pending MRI of his brain, Joe faced a major setback on Sunday morning when it was discovered that he was suffering from Ventricular Tachycardia, an extremely irregular heartbeat, and he would remain in the ICU until further prognosis of his unknown heart condition.
Monday morning after a scope of Joe’s heart, it was found that he has four clogged arteries and will need a quadruple-bypass, scheduled for Tuesday morning. We found out late Monday that this was caused from a genetic heart disease.
As we await more information to be provided from his care team in the ICU at Christiana Hospital, we are so relieved to see Joe improve each day. Although Joe is exhibiting very high level of brain function, he is struggling to talk and is very forgetful from one conversation to the next. A lot of that could be attributed to medications and exhaustion from the trauma that his body has been through. Only time will tell of any extent of brain damage.
Marissa is a full-time stay-at-home mom and home-school teacher to her children. Through what can only be described as extremely traumatic events, Marissa is a true hero! God used her as a tool to save Joe’s life that night. He has a very long road ahead of him, and with that there is the unknown of when he will be able to return to work and at what capacity. We are hoping to help raise funds to cover incurred medical expenses not covered by health insurance and help with some of their household bills while Joe is in recovery.
Our entire family is beyond grateful to everyone who has reached out, and for your prayers. Anything you can contribute is greatly appreciated, if only your prayers. Much love to all.
- The L'Italien Family
Organizer and beneficiary
Marissa L'Italien
Beneficiary