SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Two years after nearly losing a woman to cardiac arrest, Spokane Valley firefighters were able to reunite and give her a heartfelt hug.
On September 12, 2022, paramedics declared Carma Slinkard dead three times. A widow maker nearly killed her with no warning signs at all.
“I went to wash my hair and I couldn’t so I went to bed,” Slinkard said.
She closed her eyes for what could have been the last time. When she opened them again, she was in a hospital bed after a week in a coma.
“It’s kind of cool because you get a fresh aspect of life,” she said.
From the moment she woke up, all she wanted to do was support those who didn’t give up on her. On Friday, she decided to give the first responders who saved her life some lifesavers of their own.
“They’re my life savers and my lifesaver candy was just a tribute,” Slinkard said. “They could have their own lifesavers that didn’t require CPR because, well, they did enough on me.”
The firefighters performed CPR for an hour on her, administering ten electric shocks and nine shots of epinephrine.
For Slinkard’s new mission, she is asking everyone to learn CPR.
“You’re saving somebody that wouldn’t have had a chance without you,” she said.
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