North Texas heart attack survivor shares frightening experience
IRVING, Texas - A North Texas man originally from Germany is happy to be alive after he drove himself to Baylor Hospital in Irving while suffering a heart attack last month.
He’s also sharing the message he has learned after the frightening experience.
Sam Torabli said everything happened so fast.
July 10 was a normal day for the 62-year-old. He went to Kroger on Belt Line Road in Irving to pick up a few items on his grocery list.
But as soon as he walked through the doors, he said he felt off.
"Something took over me, and I could not breathe anymore. And just a lack of oxygen," he said.
He also couldn’t walk or talk, and time was running out.
"I just got back into my car and drove to the hospital. And I did see the angel of death because I was blacking out," he said.
Torabli doesn’t know how he was able to drive himself to the hospital in Irving while gasping for air. He passed out right in front of the emergency room. Then everything went black.
"I don’t even remember how I got here. And when I got out of the car, I gave the key to the security, and that was the end of it," he said.
Today he’s thankful for the doctors and nurses who were able to save his life.
"It was determined that he had pulmonary edemas. So, he had a lot of fluid on his lungs, secondary to his blood pressure being elevated and strain on his heart," said Dr. Connie Swickhamer, who practices emergency medicine at Baylor Scott & White.
The medical team behind Dr. Swickhamer immediately jumped into action.
"He continued to have a difficult time breathing and, therefore, ended up being intubated and on a breathing machine within about 10 minutes of his arrival since he was so short on breath," she said.
"They took the fluid out of my lungs, and it gave me enough oxygen," Torabli said.
He was well enough to be discharged four days after suffering the heart attack.
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Torabli still has another round of surgery in his future but said he feels great.
"He looks good. He is doing wonderful, and that’s great news," Dr. Swickhamer said.
He has a new perspective on life. More importantly, he learned a valuable lesson that will stay with him moving forward: ask for help.
"We want to stress that if you are sick or need help, please call 911, and we can get our emergency partners right away," Dr. Swickhamer said.
"Somebody is watching over me. Something is watching over me," Torabli said.