萝莉社

One moment, Jacksonville Sheriff鈥檚 Office Patrolman Michael Pickering was in pursuit of a suspect. A few minutes later, he was in the back of an ambulance, on his way to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center.

It was Jan. 20, when Pickering felt a pain in the center of his chest during the chase and called for paramedics.

Now on the stretcher, Pickering, 50, felt tired. He wanted to close his eyes鈥攋ust for a minute.

鈥淐lear! Hit him again,鈥� the rescue worker yelled.

In the time between feeling tired and hearing those words, Pickering was going into cardiac sudden death. As he would later find out, his heart was beating irregularly and then stopped beating effectively.

After paramedics resuscitated him, Pickering picked up his cell phone to call his wife, a communications director at the Clay County Sheriff鈥檚 Office.

They had an agreement. If one of them got hurt and was able, he or she needed to call the other person. The couple, married 10 years, didn鈥檛 want to find out through a knock on the door that something was wrong.

Pickering wasn鈥檛 going to break that agreement 鈥� not even because of a heart attack. Though someone else had gotten to his wife before he was able to, Pickering was able to talk to her coworkers to explain what was happening.

鈥淗e was still on his cell phone when he was wheeled into the emergency department. He was taken for tests that showed he was in the process of having a heart attack,鈥� said Theodore Bass, MD, chief of the at the and medical director of the Shands Jacksonville Cardiovascular Center.

Both of Pickering鈥檚 parents died after having heart attacks, but they had been heavy smokers.

But Pickering didn鈥檛 smoke, he wasn鈥檛 a drinker and he was in good shape. And during his 29 years as a member of the sheriff鈥檚 office, Pickering was given annual exams. He鈥檇 passed the latest exam just a few months earlier.

Then in January, Pickering was working an assignment on Jacksonville鈥檚 Northside when another officer asked for backup. Pickering responded.

He was chasing a shoplifting subject into a wooded area when he started to feel the pain in his chest.

It must have been the Mexican food he鈥檇 eaten earlier that day, he thought. But just to be safe, as other officers continued to chase the suspect, he headed back to his truck, parked alongside Lem Turner Road.

He called for an ambulance, though he never said it was for himself. He took off his vest, locked his gun away and waited.

鈥淚 thought for sure rescue was going to get there, check me out and say it was nothing,鈥� he said. But it was something.

Just a few minutes after Pickering鈥檚 wife got to the hospital, Bass came out to speak with her.

Pickering had a heart attack in the bottom wall of his heart. Through a radial artery entry in his right wrist, doctors were able to thread catheters in to take pictures, open the completely blocked right coronary vessel and put in a stent, Bass said.

鈥淗is symptoms got better,鈥� Bass said later. 鈥淲e were fortunately able to significantly limit the size of his heart attack.鈥�

At Shands Jacksonville, doctors routinely use the radial approach instead of the traditional femoral approach, which goes through an artery in the groin. Bass said the radial approach is preferred because there aren鈥檛 as many bleeding complications, but not all doctors in Northeast Florida have been trained to use it.

Within a few weeks, doctors put a stent in another of Pickering鈥檚 arteries to fix a light blockage in the front wall of his heart.

He was so happy with his care that when workers鈥� compensation officials asked him to switch to a different doctor at a different hospital, he declined.

鈥淒r. Bass, I love that guy,鈥� Pickering said. 鈥淗e puts it in layman鈥檚 terms.鈥�

He said he owes a debt of gratitude to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue personnel, Shands Jacksonville employees and 萝莉社 doctors who saved his life and took care of him during his recovery.

It isn鈥檛 clear what caused Pickering鈥檚 heart problems. Middle age men in the United States often have risk factors because of their diet and lifestyle. But for Pickering, it was his history that likely played a bigger role.

鈥淣o matter what he did, he was born with a gene pool that put him at increased risk,鈥� Bass said.

Bass stressed that all people should be careful to control such risk factors as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and stress and stay away from tobacco.

Today, Pickering is done with cardiac rehabilitation. He was back at work on April 12.

And then eight days later鈥攖hree months to the day of his heart attack鈥攖he father of three had another important job.

He gave his daughter Kerri away at her wedding.

鈥淚 had tears in my eyes as we were walking down the aisle,鈥� he said.

It was a day he told himself he鈥檇 never miss. And he didn鈥檛.