On Wednesday, November 6th, 2019 my brother Joseph Woodruff suffered a major cardiac arrest 3xs within 4 hours. He was unconscious and not breathing for 20-30 mins before ambulance arrived. 
Joseph had a heart attack 4 years ago and had a 99% blockage, a stent was put in. This time that same blockage that had a stent put in was blocked and had to have another stent put in over it. Joseph has significant damage to the tissue on the outside of his heart and other blockages with in branches of his heart. He is a true miracle & has a long road to recovery. He will be having some rehab done as he is currently having some trouble with his right foot. He will not be able to return to work right away and when doing so he will not be able to do hard labor jobs like he has in the past. 
He doesn't have a set release date as he's currently in a step down program within the Hosptial before having to do rehab. Although he has insurance there is some expenses that he is currently unable to pay for due to his situation and he is unable to work. Bills, household expenses and misc medical bills that may not be covered by insurance. He will be out of work for a long time while having physical therapy onto help him walk. 

Everyone who knows Joey knows how much of a big heart he has. He would do anything for anyone and not expect a penny in return. He's a big teddy bear and loves to listen to music, go out on his boat and be around his friends! His recover is crucial and he will be down for some time. God gave him a 2nd chance when ICU said for theirselves god gave us the miracle we all prayed for and they are speechless at how much he has over come with no brain damage and still has is personality in tact. Joey knows everyone and the day this happen to him we have never seen so much love our town had given him and us. The phone calls, messages, texts, visitors, the hugs and more. Joey truly has a community who would be lost without him. #miracleman my big brother. 

Joey became #MiracleMan
STORY: Joey woke up feeling he was having a heart attack. He had been rushed to the hospital by my mother Sheila early that morning around 8:00am. While on route to the hospital Joey went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Ambulance met up and had to use a defibulator to get him breathing.  Once he was breathing he was put into the ambulance. Once he was put into the ambulance he flat lined for a second time, again he needed the defibulator. He was transferred to Atlanticare Hosptial in Pomona, NJ where he was in the ICU. 
Our family met with a pulmonary doctor, cardiologist and nurses. Joseph was unconcious and not breathing for what was estimated between 20-30 minutes during the first cardiac arrest cutting oxygen off to the brain. Anymore than 5 mins is crucial and can cause significant brain injury. The doctor was trying to determine the time of unconsciousness to determine what was most important to address first. His brain or his heart. The doctor spoke with other specialist and our family. Final decision which was decided in just minutes was to preserve the brain because of the time frame of him being unconscious and not breathing. The doctor started a procedure called Therapeutic Hypothermia. This procedure would help any potential brain damage to stop spreading. The procedure would be 24-48 hrs long. Within 2-3 hours of this Joseph was heavily sedated and having seizure after seizure he went into cardiac arrest for a 3rd time. This was the most traumatizing thing we have seen in our life. Watching nurses and doctors crowding the room on top of him. The nurses worked on him for 7 minutes. Now, at this point he is still sedated Showing all the signs of brain damage the doctors were preparing the family for what would to expect.  We were informed that Joseph had suffered brain damage showing the signs of posturing and if he were to cardiac a 4th time they didn't see him being viable that he was showing no signs of brain activity and for our family to had to make a very hard decision whether deciding to resuscitate him for the 4th time or to let him go peacefully. Our family was started planning on donating any viable organs and we were preparing to say good-bye and make funeral arrangements. Of course the biggest worry was seeing Joey suffer it was crushing everyone around him.  Our family never left his side & close friends came to be there with him and us the moment it happened. We agreed. 
A miracle started to slowly unfold within  just 11 hours. It had taken several times for the nurse to witness themselves and then having  to prove the positive progress to the doctor. Everyone within the ICU couldn't believe in the miracle they were witnessing. He was slowly showing good signs. He did scare us a couple more times when coming out of sedation and being aggressive and not fully being able to come out of it without scare of pulling his tubes out. We were also warned that this could continue to happen without a positive outcome. It was days of trial and error with sedation and anxiety medicines.