A couple of weeks ago we heard the remarkable news that the pilot of a Cessna Caravan light aircraft had passed out in mid-air, leaving a passenger who knew nothing about flying at all to land the plane with the advice and guidance of an air traffic controller on the ground. It was almost miraculous, and has been rightly celebrated.
Now more news is becoming available about what happened to the pilot.
The 64-year-old pilot of a small plane who became incapacitated, leaving his passenger with no flying experience to land the Cessna in Florida earlier this month, suffered a tear in his aorta, his surgeon said.
Dr. Nishant Patel, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, said in a news conference Thursday that Kenneth Allen’s recovery from the aortic dissection was remarkable.
. . .
An ambulance was waiting at the airport and Allen was taken first to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he was suffering signs of a stroke that left the left side of his face droopy and the loss of movement on one side of his body.
Patel said when doctors discovered Allen needed complex cardiac care, he was transferred to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.
When Allen arrived, he was “confused and lethargic,” Patel said. He then underwent a nine-hour procedure to correct the aortic dissection.
Patel and his team stopped the blood flow to every organ except Allen’s brain, which meant his body temperature was cooled.
“When you cool someone down that low, the clock is ticking,” Patel said. He said Allen had no excessive bleeding during the surgery or afterward.
“The moment that he was describing to his friends on the plane, ‘Hey guys, I don’t feel well. I have the worst headache of my life. I’m feeling fuzzy, dizzy.’ That is the exact event that the tear occurred in his aorta,” Patel said. “To be able to survive that acute event was really quite remarkable.”
There's more at the link.
Aortic dissection, as it's known, is a very dangerous condition indeed. If the aorta (the main artery in the body, leading from the heart to other organs) tears, blood pressure can force its inner and outer layers to separate; and if the outer layer is ruptured, allowing blood to escape into the thoracic cavity, death is almost inevitable (and usually rapid).
I think that pilot had better buy some lottery tickets. He's very, very lucky to be alive.
Peter
This is what killed John Ritter (Three's Company). He was working on a show at Disney Studios, and felt suddenly bad with a tearing chest pain. By the time he was transported a few hundred yards to the emergency room literally across the street, the aorta had completely ruptured, and he died within a couple of minutes.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of thing is generally non-survivable even if you were on the operating room table surrounded by a full cardiac surgery team when it happened.
I imagine the bill for that comes in at just under $1million. Lucky to be alive.
ReplyDeleteBigger question. Was he vaccinated and could the aorta problem have been caused by one of the Covid vaccine shots?
ReplyDeleteYep, lucky man!
ReplyDeleteMy brother died of an aortic dissection several years ago. He had been in a car accident two weeks earlier where the air bag deployed. Sadly, he was not wearing his seat belt. We feel that the resulting blow to the chest caused the dissection, since none of the six of his close family (including parents) showed any signs of one.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a study where 80% of people with an aortic dissection die in the first half hour. That was approximately how long he lasted once he called 911 complaining of chest pain.
I'm curious as to what causes an aortic dissection. I've been reading a lot recently about a suspected connection between the Covid vaccines causing blood clots leading to strokes, pulmonary embolisms, heart problems and a host of other problems. I'm no doctor, but the evidence linking all these extremely serious medical problems is enormous and compelling. If there is a real link between these issues, we can be sure it will be covered up by our handlers as long as possible. Pray these theories are wrong.
ReplyDeletePeter, I rarely disagree with you, but this one time. . . This man should NEVER gamble or try lottery -- he has no luck left to use.
ReplyDeleteI knew a guy who almost died from an aortic dissection. Luckily for him, the hospital the ambulance took him to was just about to start heart surgery on another patient. Since they hadn't actually started the operation, they set their original patient aside and the OR team was working on him within a few minutes of his arrival.
ReplyDelete