By Deb Kroon, Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Ryan and Sheena Eidhammer moved to Adrian around seven years ago. They both have jobs they like, Ryan is a co-owner and a mechanic at Adrian Auto and Sheena is a nurse at New Dawn in Luverne. They have 3 healthy, handsome boys; seven year old Ryker, three year old Raylan and seven month old Ruxin. Life is good!
On September 27th, Sheena woke up not feeling well. She woke up Ryan. Little did they know they had begun a day that would change the direction of their lives.
After a trip to the Emergency Department in Worthington, Sheena was airlifted to Sioux Falls, SD. In Sioux Falls, she underwent two surgeries before being airlifted to the University of Minnesota Hospital. Sheena had suffered a dissection of the heart (spontaneous coronary artery dissection-SCAD). The artery wall has three layers. When a tear occurs, blood is able to pass through the innermost layer and becomes trapped and causes a bulge inward. This can narrow or block the artery and causes a heart attack.
Once at UMN, Sheena was put on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, extracorporeal means outside of the body) – a machine to add oxygen to the blood and remove carbon dioxide and return the blood to the artery. This allows the blood to “bypass” the heart and lungs, allowing them to rest. She was also on a ventilator and fighting for her life. Sheena was kept sedated for more than a week. When she finally opened her eyes and recognized Ryan, nine days had passed. There was a lot of excitement amongst the people staying at her side. God put a light into a dark tunnel.
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