PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Julie M. Stausmire AU - Mitchell G. Greenbaum AU - Marie Morelli-Greenbaum TI - The Day I Died AID - 10.1370/afm.2170 DP - 2018 Jan 01 TA - The Annals of Family Medicine PG - 77--79 VI - 16 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/1/77.short 4100 - http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/1/77.full SO - Ann Fam Med2018 Jan 01; 16 AB - When I began experiencing chest pain that was different from my usual heartburn symptoms, I denied I could possibly be having a heart attack, but chewed 4 baby aspirin just in case. Despite years of community education about the need to call 911 and seek immediate emergency care when experiencing signs and symptoms of a heart attack, more than 350,000 individuals experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in 2016. Of those, only 12% survived. Bystander recognition of cardiac arrest and prompt intervention with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and rapid defibrillation is essential for out-of-hospital survival. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have the right people with the right equipment in the right place at the right time. I don’t know why, but I was one of the lucky ones.