Unique Defibrillator Saves Local Man

It’s been about a month since Michael Buckley wore a Life Vest.

“We laughed because it looked like a brassiere,” his wife Carmen Contreras said.

The Life Vest saved Michael’s life when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at home — five days after he was discharged from the hospital for a heart attack.

“I passed out [at home]. That’s all I remember,” he said.

Carmen thought he was dead.

Doctors said Michael flatlined, but the Life Vest revived him by giving him a shock similar to a defibrillator.

Nearly all of the patients don’t realize they’ve been shocked until they discover blue colored gel smeared across their chest. The gels burst on their skin to become a conduction before the shock is administered.

The Life Vest is vital for heart patients who have to wait 40 days to get a permanent defibrillator surgically implanted. Michael now has a permanent one.

Most health insurance companies will cover the expense of the Life Vest.