I died for 28 minutes after having a heart attack during a match – what I saw on the other side was incredible
A FITNESS instructor who died for 28 minutes after suffering a heart attack during a basketball game has told of his remarkable “out of body” experience.
Phill Zdybel, 57, said he felt like he was looking down on his own body as an off-duty nurse desperately tried to revive him.
The Taekwondo instructor collapsed during the game in November last year due to a coronary artery aneurysm, which sparked a full-blown cardiac arrest.
His son, Joshua, was watching and called the paramedics while an off-duty nurse started CPR and others found a defibrillator nearby.
Phill was raced to hospital where he woke up a few days later – and he was told by medics he had been dead for 28 minutes.
He described the experience as “out of body” and said he felt like he was floating above his body on the court in Geelong, Australia.
“I would say I was a bit out of body,” he told the Geelong Advertiser.
Phill also said he was grateful it happened while he was around so many people, rather than on his own.
He said if it had happened at any other time, “no one would have found me”.
“I’m a miracle man,” he said.
He believes his fitness and attitude were key to his survival.
And Phill said the experience has changed his perspective on life.
“All the little things we worry about are not worth worrying about,” he said.
“Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do anything. I was not going out anywhere.”
Phill was discharged after a week at Geelong Hospital, where he had a stent put in.
The dad has now become an advocate for CPR training and called for more defibrillators to be available to the public.
“Everyone needs to do CPR and all workplaces’ sports venues and the like should have defibrillators on hand,” he said.
If the heart is not kept going with resuscitation or restarted with a defibrillator – found in public places – patients can die within minutes.
Just one in 10 people survive out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
It comes after another dad who died for 18 minutes when his heart stopped said he owes his life to his kids.
Stuart Waters, 48, went into cardiac arrest while behind the wheel while driving his kids home from football practice.
All of a sudden, he felt ill and became unresponsive.
His children were the only ones there to spring into action, running to get help.
Stuart said: “The police officer there at the time said that, in that situation, the likelihood of surviving was one in 10 but thankfully I was the one.
“It’s never something you want your kids to see but it’s a very proud moment – obviously for the wrong reasons – but I am so proud of them and couldn’t ask for better kids.
“At the end of the day they helped save my life so I owe them big time.”