By Andrea Nagel
After a heart attack
or traumatic event, most people
remember only faint details about the incident, or
maybe even only the events leading up to it. But after
a year the details are still all too vivid for Spokane
weatherman Mark Peterson.
“It happened on October 24, 2012,” he recalls.
“I was in Post Falls talking to the owner of a pizza
place—evidently he had recently had some heart prob-
lems, and we were talking about his experience. On a
break I tried a bite of one of his dessert pizzas, and it
felt like it was stuck—it really hurt.”
After he took a drink of water,
the pain did go away, but only for a
short time.
“Not too long after that I was back
on air doing an update, and the pain
returned right in the middle of the
segment,” Mark said. “As soon as
the update was done my skin turned
gray, I was cold and clammy, felt
like I was going to throw up, and overall just felt bad. I
knew something wasn’t right.”
Mark instructed the pizza shop owner to call 911,
and in minutes the county paramedics arrived and took
Peterson to the emergency department at Kootenai
Health.
While being wheeled in from the ambulance, Mark
actually coded—meaning he lost consciousness and
his heart stopped. He remembers waking up to the
sound of Keith Kadel, M.D., his interventional cardiolo-
gist, asking, “Is he with us?”
“I opened my eyes and could see the lights on the
ceiling going by and said, ‘This is just like a movie,’”
Mark remembers. “One of the guys pushing my bed
looked at me and said, ‘It’s better—we have skylights.’
A F T E R A N E A R - FATA L H E A RT AT TA C K , WE AT H E RMA N
MA R K P E T E R S O N I S PA S S I O N AT E A B O U T H E A RT H E A LT H
I remember thinking, ‘As long as I’m talking I’ll still
live.’”
Within 46 minutes Dr. Kadel and his team cleared
the blockage to Peterson’s heart and inserted a stent.
Peterson knew he was lucky to be alive, but it wasn’t
until a day later he discovered how lucky he truly was.
A P E R F E C T S T O R M
“Every time a nurse would come into my room and look
at my chart they would mutter something like, ‘un-
believable,’” Mark said. “I finally made a guy explain
what was so amazing. He said, ‘You had what we’d call
a widow-maker. We’ve had people
have heart attacks smaller than yours
in the ED and not survive.’”
Also, the fact that they called for
help quickly rather than waiting to see
if the pain went away made a world of
difference.
Mark also learned that the pizza
shop he had been at was only a block
away from the fire station, and the
ambulance made exceptionally good time getting to the
hospital. When they did finally reach the hospital, Dr.
Kadel and his staff had also just arrived for the day, so
Mark went immediately into surgery.
“Dr. Kadel said everything that day went my way,”
Mark said. “I was blessed to have him there. He and
his team did such a good job, and there was absolutely
no damage to my heart.”
Since his heart attack, Mark has had to make a few
lifestyle changes to help prevent future heart problems.
He continually works to de-stress his life, get more
sleep and make more time to be active. The biggest
change he’s made is to quit smoking.
“I haven’t had a single cigarette in over a year,” he
said. “I quit cold turkey.”
He remembers waking
up to the sound of Keith
Kadel, M.D., his interven-
tional cardiologist, asking,
“Is he with us?”
ABolt from theBlue
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HEART HEALTH
Kibbee Walton, Artisan Portrait
