Jeremy Wojdyla's Cardiac Arrest Recovery Fund

Several weeks ago, my youngest brother, Jeremy, woke up to a surprise cardiac arrest and suffered cardiac death. Thankfully his wife (they were just married in May 2022), Samantha, is a teacher and is certified in CPR. As he lay without a pulse, Samantha applied CPR until the police and paramedics arrived. Jeremy suffered a lack of oxygen to his brain for nearly 20 minutes before he had a heartbeat again. (Severe brain damage starts after 4 minutes).

Our family spent several days in the Northwestern McHenry ICU waiting room, waiting for what was going to happen while they had him on a breathing machine and many monitors. Meanwhile, the medical team was trying to delicately tell us that with the timeframe of lack of oxygen to his brain, the chances of him being brain dead, a vegetable, or starting his life in a nursing home at 35 with a tracheotomy, a feeding tube in his side and possibly learning to walk, pee, etc. with limited brain function were almost guaranteed.

Day 4 in ICU: He woke up. They took the tube out. He talked. He drank water on his own. He ate a cracker. It was a medical miracle. Things were still iffy as to what his future would be, but this was an incredible surprise as we were trying to process the likelihood of severe brain damage.

Day 5: He busted out of the ICU and to the cardiac wing. He started to walk with a therapist's help, and a walker. He was eating all normal food, and he could feed himself. He was going to get to leave the hospital and go to inpatient therapy! A medical miracle his nurses have never seen before in all of the years that they worked there. All tests still lead to no answers as to why this happened. All we know is that it’s an electrical issue.

Day 9: A defibrillator was placed in the chance this all happens again, it will shock his heart back into rhythm.

Day 10: Instead of spending weeks in inpatient therapy, like they originally scheduled. They sent him home. A miracle.

Day 11: We assess for outpatient therapy- speech, occupational, and physical. He doesn’t need any.

A miracle.

It has been about a month now.

He is home, happy, healthy and living with a defibrillator in his body. I am beyond blessed with this miracle.

Jeremy has been out of work now and makes the majority of their income. It will still be a while before he is able to drive and/or work again. With mounting medical bills and several months of not being able to work, we would like to raise some money to help Jeremy and Samantha get through this incredibly challenging time.

On a side note. Here is a reminder of the importance of early CPR. I pray that no one will ever have to do this on anyone, especially a loved one. However, I strongly believe everyone should be trained. The doctors and nurses all said the early and correct CPR is the reason Jeremy is alive, functioning, and going to continue to live a “normal” life. (Because let’s be real- anyone who knows us, knows he is nothing but normal ). Please consider taking a class if you haven’t before. It saved my brother’s life.

We also owe a world of thank yous to the first responders who responded as quickly as they did. The police officers and paramedics were amazing. Thank you, Woodstock The team at Northwestern was equally incredible. Please keep praying the positive news and progress continues! Thank you!