When COVID forced everyone to spend more time at home, Tom Murphy decided he wouldn’t sit around idle. At 62, he upped his regular activity to work out with his son, daughter and daughter’s fiancé — college athletes who kept him in top shape.

Tom’s go-to workout was a long walk in a hilly East Cobb neighborhood. He and the kids also played a lot of pickleball.

About a year in, Tom noticed a physical change.

“I was playing fewer games of pickleball at a time and making it only halfway through my walks,” he said.

Tom turned to his cardiologist, who, with the help of specialized imaging offered at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, created a personalized action plan.

Getting answers with the help of HeartFlow

During Tom’s annual appointment with his Wellstar Dr. George Kramer, he shared his concerns about his symptoms.

“I do sports with my kids, and I’m short of breath,” Tom said.

The physician requested a cardiac CT (CCTA), the new standard for detecting heart disease, according to the American Heart Association. It can be more accurate than treadmill stress tests and is less invasive than cardiac catheterization.

“Results of the initial CT showed two blockages,” Dr. Kramer said. “One blockage was 67%, one was 75%, and we decided to follow up with further analysis using the HeartFlow test.”

Because Wellstar was the first HeartFlow Platinum site in Georgia, the cardiology staff were able to create a personalized, 3D model of Tom’s coronary arteries to check on blood flow. HeartFlow is a fractional reserve assessment that looks at how each blockage impacts the heart. Previously, this in-depth view of the heart could only happen with a more invasive procedure.

According to Dr. Kramer, the test itself has been “a godsend” since it makes it possible for patients to avoid invasive tests while still getting important — and potentially lifesaving — information about their hearts.

HeartFlow revealed the blood flow to Tom’s heart was significantly compromised.

Tom and his 91-year-old mother stand together for heart health.

There aren’t many people out there who can say they survived cardiac arrest at 30. Kevin Miskewicz can.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 90% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. Those who survive often have permanent neurological disabilities. But Kevin’s story has an incredibly fortunate ending, thanks to the highly coordinated work of his medical experts at Wellstar.

Recovering from cardiac arrest is something Kevin will never forget. It lives forever as a piece of his health history — one that includes a dedicated healthcare team — and his wife, who was the first to save his life.

CPR to the rescue

Kevin woke up on Labor Day 2017 at 5:30 a.m. to take the dog out. Pausing to adjust the thermostat as he came in, he fell, knocking over a lamp.

He was in cardiac arrest.

With no symptoms and no known pre-existing condition, this was unexpected, but that didn’t stop his wife, Andrea, from jumping into action.

“If it weren’t for me knocking over a lamp when I passed out,” said Kevin, “she would have never woken up and saved my life.”

In addition to calling 911 and unlocking the door for the paramedics, Andrea performed CPR for 10 minutes.

“Kevin’s wife doing good CPR was critical,” said Dr. Arthur Reitman, the interventional cardiologist who was a vital part of Kevin’s treatment team at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center. “More than five minutes of poor blood flow to the brain can result in permanent irreparable injury from which a patient is unable to recover.”

Coordinating multidisciplinary care to save a life

When paramedics arrived at Kevin’s home, he had no pulse and was not breathing. As the paramedics performed their lifesaving work, he technically died two times.

The ambulance took him to Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center, where he was initially assessed and treated by Dr. David Jacoboff. The interventional cardiologist implanted an intra-aortic balloon pump to stabilize him. Then, he transferred Kevin to Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center for highly specialized heart care.

When Kevin arrived at Kennestone by helicopter, his heart function wasn’t strong enough to support his body. Dr. Reitman and a team of doctors including a cardiologist, a pulmonologist and critical care doctors worked in tandem to put Kevin on an advanced life support system called veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Better known as VA-ECMO, it took the heart “offline” so it could heal. The technology removed unoxygenated blood from his body, oxygenated it and pumped it back in for the next three days.

“Very few places in the state — only four or five hospitals — have the technology and specialized training to put a patient on ECMO,” Dr. Reitman explained.