DENVER — As Todd Brainard was wheeled out of Denver Health this week, he put his hands in the air and then held his hand to his heart.
He's thankful to be alive after he went into cardiac arrest on the operating table, and his heart stopped for 20 minutes.
"Well I can tell you I woke up in the middle of surgery with two guys on my chest doing CPR," he said. "I said uh-oh, something went wrong."
The words were in his head, and he quickly went under again, only waking up a couple of days later to learn what had happened. The surgery – on the evening of the Fourth of July – was going well, and surgeons were almost done putting his hip socket together when Brainard's heart stopped. Together, two surgeons and about 15 doctors, residents and nurses did CPR and chest compressions for 20 minutes to bring him back.
"We never gave up, we kept on pushing, kept on doing what was necessary to bring him back to life. And it was terrifying," said Dr. Cyril Mauffrey, who heads Denver Health's Department of Orthopedics.
It started when Brainard and his family, who are from Ohio, went on vacation in Glenwood Springs and were about to go horseback riding.
"The horse thought I was at a rodeo or something," Brainard said. "And next thing you know, I was launched 10 feet in the air from what my daughter, Emma, told me, and hit the ground pretty hard on my left side, knew it was pretty serious."
After first going to a local hospital, doctors realized he needed to be airlifted to Denver Health for pelvic reconstruction surgery.
After surgery, and as Brainard recovered at Denver Health, his daughter's team made it to the Softball World Series and his son's little league team, that he coaches, won their championship.
"Every play that they made, the assistant coach told me we did that one for Coach Todd, we did that one for Coach Todd," Brainard said.
He is thankful for the people who have helped get him back and said he's determined to recover and get back to his kids.
"I still have a long road to recovery but I’m here," he said. "My brain feels clear, so I’m able to, I’m going to work really hard to get better, and I’m going to be forever grateful to all these people that helped me."
Brainard can't put pressure on his legs for 10 weeks, and he'll have to relearn how to walk after that. He can fly home once he's able to sit in a chair for four hours, and his family hopes that will be in about a week.
> The video below aired on July 7:
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