Drake might have said ‘You Only Live Once’, but this bloke proved that wrong - eight times.
Evan Hoyt Wasserstrom has been compared to Wolverine for his ‘regenerative powers’.
The writer and producer experienced dying eight times when he was getting ready to take his dog, Atticus Finch, on a walk.
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He was 40-years-old at the time when he began feeling a burning in his left arm and called 911.
Turns out, the New Jersey man was having a huge ‘widow-maker’ heart attack.
When the ambulance showed up, Evan literally fell into the arms of the paramedics at the door as he flatlined for the first time.
They were able to revive him in the ambulance before rushing him to the nearby Cedars-Sinai Hospital. The American then ended up flatlining another five times on his way there.
He then flatlined twice more before going in for surgery.
The longest one lasted approximately two whole minutes and Evan was technically dead for 30 to 40 seconds each time.
After his eighth flatline, he was stabilised and had two stents implanted during surgery.
The man was then rushed to ICU where he was placed into a medically induced coma for five days and put on an ECMO machine which assisted his heart to beat.
He also ended up with more than 20 IV medications pumped through his neck, after his organs began to fail.
When doctors took Evan off the ECMO machine, they prepared his family for the worst as they were unsure he’d survive. And even if he could be rehabilitated, they believed it would take at least two years for him to walk or talk.
However, like some kind of miracle, he ‘sprang to life’ just a few hours later. Understandably pretty discombobulated, he tried to escape.
“I woke in a confused panic. A doctor and two nurses asked me what my name was and if I could hear them. I was so discombobulated they had to restrain my wrists and ankles, I thought I had been kidnapped," he said.
“Eventually, my mom was brought into the room. Seeing her calmed me down enough to realise I was in the hospital. I grabbed her arm and told her, ‘Mom, I don't want to die!’ But she replied, "You're not going to die. You already did."
Doctors were amazed he even had the energy to move, let alone needing to be restrained.
One said he was like Wolverine because of his ‘super-speed healing ability’.
Over the next day, Evan’s organs returned to normal levels, having the quickest recovery on record at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Just a day and a half of being in the ICU, he was moved to a regular hospital room, which he only stayed in for three more days before going home.
The 'widow-maker' heart attack he had happens when you have a 100 percent blockage in the main artery in your heart. Evan also had a 70% blockage in his second artery.
Now 48-years-old, he’s friends with paramedic Ed who revived him six out of the eight times before getting to the hospital.
“He confided in me that he was considering leaving his job since he had worked there for ten years at the time, but him reviving me inspired him enough to stay in the job. It gave him a whole new perspective on his work,” Evan said.
Since the incident, the ‘Wolverine’ said he’s been ‘overly exuberant’ in helping others.
Jess Battison