When His Heart Stopped, a New Life Began

Nathan and Lynda Olsen loved to explore the southwestern Missouri countryside near their home in Carthage, so when they discovered a cozy coffeeshop situated on a picturesque bluff, they pulled in to savor the view and the java. But their relaxing afternoon quickly came to a jolting halt. 

A natural conversationalist, 72-year-old Nathan was in the middle of a sentence with some newfound friends at the coffee shop when he stopped abruptly, leaned back in his chair, and “was gone.” He lost consciousness and stopped breathing.

“He turned gray,” his wife Lynda says. “I pushed on his chest and said, ‘Nathan, wake up!’ but I knew he wasn’t asleep.”

Bystanders-turned-heroes sprang into action. Someone called 911, and a local ER nurse started CPR. An off-duty EMT in the area heard the 911 call and brought a defibrillator to shock Nathan’s heart.

Then, three nursing students who had been studying in the coffee shop continued CPR until the ambulance arrived. The EMTs placed a compression mechanism around Nathan’s chest to pump his heart and keep him breathing as he was whisked away to a nearby hospital in Branson.

Nathan doesn’t remember anything until he woke up in the ER feeling like someone had hit him in the chest with a baseball bat.

“I kept asking what happened and telling them my chest hurt,” Nathan says. “The doctors said it was a miracle that I was talking and lucid because people are usually dead or severely brain damaged after their hearts stop like mine did.”

Nathan was diagnosed with ventricular fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder that causes the heart’s lower chambers to quiver instead of pump blood to the rest of the body. It can be triggered by a heart attack. Without immediate treatment, people with ventricular fibrillation rhythm often die.

Finding the Right Expertise for Complex Heart Surgery

After two days in Branson, Nathan was transferred to another hospital in Springfield where doctors determined he needed triple bypass surgery. However, due to the complex nature of the surgery, they referred him to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

“My leg veins were stripped in 1994, so the surgeons couldn’t use those for the bypass,” Nathan explains. “Barnes-Jewish heart surgeons are among the few who can perform bypass surgery using veins from the chest rather than the legs. It was a blessing I was sent to St. Louis.”

Nathan and Lynda had heard good things about Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “It was far away, but we were comfortable going,” Lynda says. “I knew it was one of the top hospitals in the country, and a friend told me they had a good experience there.”

Another ambulance ride took Nathan to St. Louis where the Olsens met with a team that included Matthew Schill, MD, a WashU Medicine cardiothoracic surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “If I had to, I would go back to him in a heartbeat,” Nathan says. “He sat down with me, and we had a real conversation. He didn’t just talk at me. I was very impressed with him. He has a caring heart, and that makes a big difference. And the nurses were really good.”

Because of the lifesaving measures taken—including CPR—when he lost consciousness in the coffee shop, Nathan had three broken ribs and lacerations on his liver and spleen. This put him at risk for bleeding, so Dr. Schill postponed his surgery for a few weeks while Nathan healed. During that time, he wore a LifeVest, a wearable defibrillator that detects irregular heartbeats and automatically delivers an electrical shock to restore normal rhythm. Thankfully, Nathan didn’t have any episodes in those few weeks.

Facing Challenges With Trust

A resilient man, Nathan was no stranger to hardship. He had been laid off four times over the years. “Hardships will make or break you—it’s your choice,” Nathan says. “I’ve learned to stand up and face my challenges in life.”

Nathan also developed diabetes after being exposed to Agent Orange while serving in the Air Force in Vietnam. This further complicated his bypass surgery. Instead of triple bypass surgery, he had double bypass surgery followed by an additional procedure a few days later to insert two stents in his arteries to increase blood flow.

Nathan had his seven-hour, lifesaving heart bypass surgery on Dec. 27, 2023.

“I was a nervous wreck all the way up until that day of surgery, but then I felt the stress leave my body because I trusted the doctors,” Lynda says.

Nathan required a few adjustments after surgery and had a defibrillator implanted to regulate his heart rhythm.

“Getting the veins from the chest is a delicate surgery, and there aren’t many doctors who can do that,” Nathan says. “During recovery, the nurses prepared me for how I would feel each day and helped me through it. They all made this ordeal a lot more bearable.”

Eleven days after surgery, Nathan was able to go home to his new normal. He continued cardiac rehabilitation at a hospital closer to his home. Once a year, he sees Sandeep Sodhi, MD, a WashU Medicine cardiac electrophysiologist at Barnes-Jewish, for a “tune-up” on his state-of-the-art defibrillator.

Enjoying an Extension on Life

Nathan says he is nearly 100% again, and life feels richer and more meaningful. “This experience has given me a great appreciation for life. I have felt strength beyond me. You can’t go through something like this without it changing you.”

In November, Nathan and Lynda went back to the coffee shop where their lives were forever transformed. “I stood there and took it in—it was surreal,” Nathan says. “I got an extension on life. It makes you look at things differently. I haven’t found my real purpose yet, but it’s there, and I will find it.”

He hopes to become an advocate to offer comfort and inspiration to others facing similar circumstances. “I’m still quite strong and plan on staying around for a while,” he says.

With the help of generous donors through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Heart and Vascular Center at Barnes-Jewish continuously ranks among the best in the nation, serving as a beacon of hope for patients like Nathan Olsen.