A man has become a real life Lazarus after his heart stopped beating for 45 minutes and was suddenly revived, shocked doctors said on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
The presumed-dead diesel mechanic, Tony Yahle, was being prepared by nurses to be seen by his family Aug. 5 when he began to show signs of life, the doctors said. He fully awoke at the hospital five days later, they said.
It wasn't a regular heart beat, but once or twice a minute, the monitor would pick up tiny electrical movements.
"When I looked at the electrical activity, I was surprised," Nazir said. "I thought we'd better make another effort to revive him."
Nazir gave one of Yahle's hanging medicine bags a squeeze to restore his blood pressure and the team began working on him again.
"Very slowly, the heart rate was picking up," Nazir said.
Yahle said a "miracle happened" when he revived. He said doctors couldn't find any defects in his heart. He said his doctors' last guess was that it was all the result of a possible viral infection.
Yahle's teenage son, Lawrence Yahle, said he spoke to him shortly before he revived, the newspaper reported.
"I pointed at him and said, 'Dad, you're not going to die today,'" the 18-year-old said. "I stood there for a few more seconds. I was about to walk back to comfort the family, and that's when he started showing signs of a heartbeat."
