Danya Topham, RN, says when she saw the man in trouble she wasn't going to just sit back and watch.
By Erin Goff
If not for the quick-thinking efforts of an off-duty nurse and other first responders, a Utah man was almost called out of the game forever during a local recreation softball game.
This week, leaders from Murray City recognized and thanked Danya Topham, RN, at Intermountain Medical Center and Murray Fire and Police department first responders for their life-saving response when a Murray man went into cardiac arrest while playing softball.
Danya had just gotten off her shift at Intermountain Medical Center’s Same-Day Surgery department when she stopped by the Murray City Park baseball field to see her three sons play in a city recreation softball game.
Just as she set her chair down, Danya heard a shout, “Someone call 911!”
She looked out to the field and saw Darren Ewell, who was playing shortstop for the other team, had just collapsed. Still in her Intermountain scrubs, Danya switched from her role as mom and cheerleader to that of a nurse in the blink of an eye.
“I’m not one to sit back and watch,” says Danya. “And who better to assess the situation than a nurse?”
Initially, Danya thought Ewell was having a seizure but after a quick evaluation, realized he was in cardiac arrest and started chest compressions immediately.
Danya asked, “Who knows CPR?” and she asked the players to line up so if she needed to switch-out they would be ready and know what to do.
Murray City Police body camera video captured her life saving actions and what happened next.
“After what had seemed like a long time, but I’m sure it wasn’t...I’d never been so happy to see police and fire arrive, but I was afraid he wasn’t going to make it,” Danya says.
Emergency responders shocked Ewell, and Danya received a glimmer of hope when she heard the first responders speaking to him as they closed the ambulance doors.
“I thought, ‘Holy crap. He woke up.’ I was just in shock,” says Danya. “I was just so excited.”
EMS responders transported Ewell to Intermountain Medical Center, where he received care from cardiologists who were able to stabilize him and take corrective action.
Ewell had four stents placed in his heart.
“I died, and you guys saved my life,” says Ewell. “I’ll be forever grateful.”
He doesn’t remember much from that day.
“I was starting the fourth inning,” says Ewell. “All of a sudden, I woke up in the hospital.”
“If she didn’t immediately take aggressive action and, you know, break my ribs, as my doctor said, ‘There’s no way you would have had the mental faculty to even survive a heart attack because the oxygen wouldn’t have gotten to your brain,’” says Ewell.
Ewell, a recent retiree who loves softball, considers himself lucky. His father, grandfather, and great grandfather all died of heart attacks.
Friends, neighbors, co-workers, and Ewell were all in attendance for the awards presentation.
Marisabel Araos, RN, who works with Danya at Intermountain Medical Center says, “This doesn’t surprise me. She’s a really great nurse. She’s always helping others.”
Danya and Ewell are no longer strangers and have formed a friendship. Instead of sitting on opposite sides of the field, they say they are friends for life.
The first responders, Danya, and Ewell all hope this story inspires and encourages more Utahns to get CPR certified.
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