Marina Sullivan

Marina saves a life:

Marina was driving by a bus terminal, with her small children in the backseat of the car, when she saw a man down on the sidewalk. She stopped, left her children in the car, went to the man and performed CPR on him. The man was soon brought into the ER at UCDMC in ventricular fibrilation arrest. He was taken to the cardiac cath lab and was put on the therapeutic hypothermia protocol and balloon pump as well as intubated. He came to the ICU as a Doe patient, in an anoxic, comatose state. We did not think that he would come out of this situation.

Marina came up to see him. She didn't know if she had done the right thing because of his critical, seemingly ominous condition. She wondered if she should have done the CPR.

Over the next one and a half weeks, this patient woke up after the hypothermia and balloon pump therapy stabilized his heart and hemodynamics. He was weaned off the ventilator. We discovered that he seemed to follow some commands and he knew his name. He had a lot of weakness and behaviors like a stroke patient. However, over the next week, he gained more neurological function. Now he interacts with his family and gets out of bed. He is recuperating. He is going home. This is a miracle.

Marina is a hero because she stepped in and saved his life. She did what she was trained to do, without holding back. Her CPR was the initial step and the most important step to give this patient more days on this Earth and to spend with his wife and family.

The CICU staff is in awe at her bravery as an off duty Nurse, ministering her skills in public.