Siblings rely on CPR training to save brother's life

MULLINS — James “Jay” Graves sat on his mother’s couch as he listened to his siblings recount the day he nearly died.

Jay, 20, is a sophomore studying elementary education at Morris College in Sumter. He was home on Feb. 9 during a break from classes when he had to be rushed to the emergency room for cardiac arrest.

Jay said he can’t remember anything from that day except sitting up watching movies with his mother all night before he was incapacitated by a cardiac episode no one saw coming. Had it not been for the quick thinking of his brother, Marcus, and sister, Marquita, he would likely have died in his mother’s kitchen.

“I don’t know nothing,” Jay said. “I had just came home from school.”

Marquita, 22, said she is glad they were able to save their brother’s life.

“I woke up to hear my mom screaming,” Marquita said. “I ran in the kitchen and that’s when I saw my brother sliding from the chair.”

She said it was training she received in high school that enabled her to perform CPR on her brother. Working with Marcus, the pair were able to get Jay breathing again before emergency medical workers arrived.

Marcus, 17, said that night is one he will not soon forget.

“I came in the room and saw my brother laying on the ground and I called for my sister and we gave him CPR,” he said.

He said he knew he had to do something to save his brother since he wasn’t breathing and time was passing quickly while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

“I just knew what to do,” he said. “In my school, I took ROTC and they taught us how to do it.”

Their mother, Doreatha Graves, said she is so proud of what her children did to help each other.

“It makes me feel great that they were able to jump in and do what they did,” she said. “When (Marquita) ran in here and caught him as he fell to the floor, I couldn’t do nothing, but she just got herself together. She didn’t panic, she didn’t holler, she didn’t scream, she just did what she had to do. And then Marcus came in here and started helping.”

Marcus said once EMS arrived they took over and transported Jay to the Marion County Medical Center. That facility, however, was not able to provide the level of care needed to stabilize Jay, so he was transported to McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence.

Dr. Nicolette Naso, a cardiologist at Pee Dee Cardiology, said there was reason to be concerned about brain damage considering the amount of time Jay went without oxygen.

“We were worried about brain damage given how long he was in arrhythmia before the emergency medical services people restored a rhythm,” she said.

Naso said McLeod had been working toward developing a procedure over the last several years to cool the body down to a certain level for about 24 hours before they warm it back up, which helps to reduce brain damage in some patients.

“They don’t really know why, but it has shown to help some people,” she said.

She said the procedure gives the brain time to recover from the lack of oxygen during a cardiac episode.

“He was the first patient to undergo that protocol at McLeod,” she said. “He did very well; we don’t know that it was all due to the hypothermia protocol.”

Naso said although the procedure offers hope for some patients, it doesn’t help everyone.

“There have been studies that show that one out of eight people may have some improvement,” she said.

One of the other doctors who helped stabilize Jay was Dr. Rajesh Malik, a cardiologist who also practices with Pee Dee Cardiology.

“Whenever you see a young individual who has a sudden cardiac death, who is successfully resuscitated, a lot of things come to mind,” Malik said.

“When he came in and he had been successfully resuscitated, it was obvious that he had an electrical pattern that was consistent with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome,” Malik said.

Wolff-Parkinson-White-Syndrome is a mutational disorder which causes abnormal electrical currents that make the heart beat irregularly. In extreme cases, such as Jay’s, it can cause sudden cardiac death.

Despite the seriousness of the disorder, in Jay’s case it was easily treated with a procedure Malik calls “ablation.”

“We destroy the abnormal electrical path using ultrasound energy or radio frequency,” he said.

Malik said, although Jay has to wear an outpatient heart monitor, his condition should no longer be a problem for him.

“I’m grateful,” Jay said.

But there are still precautions to take. Although he can no longer to try out for basketball or track since it could put undue stress on his heart, Jay will go on to finish his degree and possibly teach a whole new crop of young people the value of CPR training.

His family is moving cautiously, as well. Though he has recovered, Jay said his family is still a little over-protective about what he can and cannot do.

“They do everything for me,” he said with a chuckle.