Covering Stephanie's Cardiac Arrest

Five years ago, a new voice rang across the Salt Lake Valley. Stephanie Novak took the stage at the newly minted "When She Speaks I Hear the Revolution" open mic and turned the tables for open mics and poetry conversation in the city. Five years later, she is a leader in the Queer and Feminist (and Queer Feminist) communities and now, she needs your help: 

On September 17, 2015, while rocking out as hard as she had in a long time, Stephanie was hit and hit hard by an undiagnosed heart condition. While the Coathangers started into a song, Stephanie (who was at the front of the stage) went down, her heart scrambling into v-fib while her brain tried to keep up. 

What happened next was nothing short of miraculous. Paramedics had to shock Stephanie 12 times on scene, going so far as to ask each other if they should "call it" because they just could not get her blood pressure stabilized. One more shock, one more bit of medication, and they were able to get her to the Emergency Room at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, where she again coded. Two and a half hours later, they rolled her into the ICU, in a medically induced coma, and her family entered the purgatory of waiting. 

What was discovered was that Stephanie, like many in her family, had a heart condition that showed up only at the worst moments. As she came out of the coma, plans were made, including the placement of an internal defibrilator to keep this kind of thing from ever happening again. 

Thankfully, Stephanie's prognosis is a 100% recovery. But the journey is just beginning as when this happened, she was not yet eligible for her insurance through work. 



Stephanie and her family are reaching out to her extended friends and family around the world, asking for donations to help manage the upcoming avalanche of medical bills and so that she can still keep speaking the revolution for women all around the world. 

Just Another Thursday Night

When She Speaks (City Weekly)

When She Speaks I Hear Her Revolution