Feb. 14, 2025
On January 1, Karyn Hinton died – several times.
On February 12, she visited the Country Club fire station – very much alive – to thank the firefighters and paramedics who kept bringing her back to life.
“I’m Karyn. I’m alive. Thank you.”
On Jan. 1, Karyn – a healthy, 53-year-old woman had what she thought was a panic attack. It turned out to be a “widowmaker” heart attack: A 100% blockage of her Left Anterior Descending artery – one of the main blood supply lines to the heart.
As a 15-year nurse, Karyn’s first instinct that day was to remain calm.
As she began to have difficulty breathing, she kept telling herself “There is nothing to worry about.” But when her anti-anxiety medication didn’t work and her whole body broke out in a cold sweat, she knew she had to call someone – maybe her daughter, maybe her best friend. With no cardiac history, it couldn’t be a heart attack, right?
In the end, she called 911.
“I just remember I kept repeating the code to my door so the help coming could get in,” Karyn said.
When the paramedics arrived – always the nurse – Karyn asked what her Electrocardiogram (ECG) looked like. It was bad. As the paramedics rushed her to the ambulance, she coded – meaning her heart and breathing stopped – just outside her front door. The next thing she remembered was waking up in the back of the ambulance to see a medic leaning over her, performing CPR.
“I remember saying, ‘I am alive. You can stop now,’” she said.
Looking at her with disbelief – because who wakes up and starts talking during CPR? – the paramedics told her they had to keep doing CPR because her heart rhythm wasn’t good.
“We shocked you like 14 times in our care,” said Chris Easter, one of the Camano Fire paramedics who responded to Karyn’s heart attack. “It helped a lot that we had two paramedics on duty that day.”
Paramedic Mike Fox-Ramey, who wasn’t dispatched to the initial call, had been monitoring the radio traffic from the responding paramedic on scene. It didn’t sound good. He decided to head that way, just in case. By the time ICOM 911 requested a second medic unit, he was already halfway there.
Between the two paramedics, they were able to intubate Karyn and start an IV. Together with the EMTs, they traded off doing CPR in the back of the ambulance as it sped toward the emergency room.
Karyn’s next memory is of waking up in the recovery room – alive, but not out of danger. From low blood pressure to cardiogenic shock, anything that could go wrong … did. In the end, she spent five days in the ICU before being released on Jan. 7 – weak and sore, but alive.
When she finally got to meet the paramedics and EMTs who saved her life on January 1, Karyn brought a cake, her family, and her immense gratitude.
“Without the quick response, quality CPR and care of the first responders, I never would have made it,” Karyn told them. “There are no words to express the gratitude I have for the whole team who came together and saved my life.”
“I’ve never been able to talk to someone after CPR,” Easter said. “It’s pretty incredible to be able to have this conversation with you – and to talk with someone who understands what happened the way you do.”
For Karyn, the chance to meet and thank the first responders was essential.
“When I worked in the ER, we never knew what happened,” she said. “Did they make it? Did I make a difference? It gives you closure when you see the end of the story.”
