Life After Death

I soon awoke to Carole frantically calling my name, urging me to regain consciousness, yelling for me not to die on her. Carole was in disbelief. She and her friend Tobie just looked at one another. I had gone from a possible heart attack to a life-threatening situation where each second counted. Imagine rising on a normal day, unaware that you have a rare, deadly, underlying medical condition. Without warning, an excruciating pain crosses your chest. You barely make it from your living room to the operating room, but your body, somehow, manages to hang on, narrowly surviving what most do not. But surviving the initial incident is only the beginning, as complications arise. This is the true story of Robert, who, at age fifty-five, experienced one of the most traumatic events in his life - an aortic aneurysm and dissection. With less than a five-percent chance of survival, Robert was one of the lucky ones.
You may remember hearing about aortic dissections. It was what killed TV sitcom actor John Ritter in 2003 at the age of fifty-four. Trying to make sense of his near-death incident, Robert spent many hours talking through what had happened to him with his wife, Carole. Those talks soon turned into journaling about all that he had to cope with. That journaling evolved into the writing of this book, as Robert wishes to bring awareness about this deadly condition. For those dealing with an aortic dissection, or for those interested in what life is like after such a terrifying ordeal, this book may offer you some insight.