A woman in McKinney is lucky to be alive after suffering a cardiac arrest last week.
Doctors say it would have killed her if she hadn't been fitted with a wearable defibrillator days earlier.
Sheryl Blazer says she has suffered with heart problems for the past four years. Her condition deteriorated to the point that her physician, Dr. Dale Yoo, with Medical City McKinney, fitted her with a wearable defibrillator called a Zoll LifeVest.
"It just fits over, like actually under your bra," Blazer explained.
Six days after she began wearing it, on Dec. 29, Blazer suffered a cardiac arrest while working at home.
The vest detected her abnormal heartbeat and began beeping.
"They explained to me that if the alarm goes off and I'm awake, you just stop it so that it doesn't shock you. I didn't even have time to stop it and I passed out," she said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The LifeVest shocked her heart three times. If she wasn't wearing it, "I would be dead, because I had two fatal arrhythmias," Blazer said from her hospital bed.
"In less than a week she then needed it for cardiac arrest over and over again, and it saved her life. Without it she would not be around," Yoo said.
Yoo says it should serve as a reminder to everyone to take your health seriously and get routine checkups.
Blazer now has a permanent defibrillator in her chest. She should be able to leave the hospital soon.
Reliving the experience brings tears to her eyes and a new commitment to live each day like it's her last.
"Because I just have too much to do still," she said.
