, 
, 
Don Bork, Beaver Creek, said he believes God has a plan for everything and for everyone, and after his Feb. 15 cardiac arrest, he’s convinced he’s alive today for a reason.
“God does have a plan — for all those people to be there at the right time in the right place,” he said Sunday, nearly a month after nearly losing his life.
On that frigid February night, he turned an ashen color and slumped in his chair during a council meeting at the Christian Reformed Church in Luverne.
He regained consciousness to find himself lying on the floor surrounded by several worried faces leaning over him.
“Wrede (Vogel) was saying, ‘Don, if you can see me squeeze my fingers.’ I looked around some more and squeezed his fingers,” Don said. “And I saw the biggest smile I’ve seen in my life.”
He learned that his heart had stopped beating and his church colleagues brought him back with quick thinking and the use of an AED — automated external defibrillator.
“I knew we had one at church, but I didn’t even know where it was,” he said.
Don traveled by ambulance that night to the emergency room in Luverne and then to Sioux Falls where an angiogram the next day showed a primary vessel was 99 percent blocked.
“They told me that I’d had a heart attack, but because of how quickly I was brought back, there was minimal damage to my heart,” Don said. “I’m one humble and fortunate guy.”
Reality sinks in
Marcia said people have sympathized with her about the traumatic events on her birthday. “But I tell them I had the best birthday present ever,” she said. “I still have him.”
She said she couldn’t stay with Don at the heart hospital due to COVID-19 precautions, so she returned home in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
“The hard part was coming home to a quiet house, and the reality hit me,” she said. “I could be actually coming home alone.”
A few of her close friends —Char Feikema, Marilyn Van Santen and Jan Brink — had recently lost their husbands and Marcia had them over for coffee the Friday before Don’s heart attack.
“When they left, she looked at me and said, ‘You can’t leave me,’” Don said. “And I said, ‘Well I don’t plan on it.”
Little did they know how close he would come to leaving.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen,” Marcia said Sunday.
She admitted she’s having a hard time grasping the reality that she almost lost him.
“It’s hard to think of it, in a sense, because then it’s real,” she said. “So I just look at what did happen. … It was humbling when we actually did come home together.”
Recalling the ‘what-ifs’
Cardiologists placed a stent in the blocked vessel around noon Tuesday, Feb. 16, and by 2 p.m. Wednesday Don found himself back at home reflecting on the previous 48 hours.
“I caused a lot of people a sleepless night,” he lamented.
Mostly, he replayed the events of Feb. 15 in his mind, knowing that the day could easily have ended differently.
It was Marcia’s birthday and their son (Randy) and grandchildren had been there for supper.
“It was a terribly cold night, and I told Marcia that I would maybe skip the church meeting since it was her birthday,” Don recalled. “But the kids were getting ready to leave, and Marcia said I should go to the meeting.”
The fact that he left home — 20 miles from Luverne — to attend the meeting likely saved his life.
“Had I been home, I would have never made it,” Don said. “That was the good Lord’s plan starting right there.”
Also, the fact that Dr. Vogel was at the meeting and quickly initiated CPR while others called 911 saved precious time in restoring his heart rhythm.
Rich Hubbling took over chest compressions while others retrieved the AED from the church narthex and Vogel connected the sensors.
A readout from the machine showed 58 seconds elapsed from “power on” to “analysis started,” and another 19 seconds before “shock initiated.” Then, within 40 to 50 seconds the heart was beating somewhat normally.
Warning signs
Other than cracked ribs from the chest compressions, Don said he feels fine now and is doing cardiac rehab therapy at Sanford Luverne.
“I almost feel guilty for feeling so good after what I put everyone else through,” he said.
He said he felt mostly fine before the cardiac arrest, too, but now realizes he overlooked some warning signs.
There was the vacation in the Smoky Mountains when he felt a pain during a hike.
A similar thing happened during harvest field fire when he rushed to get equipment for discing a barrier.
And after the first snow of this winter he noticed it after briefly shoveling.
“It was pure stupidity on my part over the past four to five months that I still ignored those signs.”
Also, he and Marcia have lost close friends and family members in the past, one due to heart issues, and it should have prompted him to listen to his own body.
“I have three brothers who have had issues with their hearts,” he said. “And then 13 days [after Feb. 15] later my nephew Doug Bork died of a massive heart attack. That was a real gut wrench for me.”
His nephew would have been 60 this year.
“You look at that and you wonder, ‘Why him? Why not me?’ I guess God’s not finished with me yet,” said Don, who will be 70 in July.
Spokesman for a cause
The Luverne Area Community Foundation is fundraising to pay for yearly inspections and battery and pad replacements for AEDs in the community.
An AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses cardiac arrhythmias and instructs users how to administer shocks if the machine deems they’re needed.
There are about 50 in locations in Luverne and Rock County.
Foundation director Emily Crabtree has asked if Don would be a spokesperson for the cause.
“I’d be humbled to help put the story out there,” he said. “It might be one of the reasons God has me here yet.”
Another new advocate for AEDs is Shawn Feilema who was sitting next to Don at the church meeting.
“It’s an experience I’ll never forget,” Shawn said. “What an amazing providence of God to have people there who knew what to do and an AED available.”
He said he and his brother Mike, Feikema, are getting an AED at their farm operation and will train their employees how to use it during their spring safety training.
“When we have all our part-time help here, it’s 13 or 14 guys, and some of them are over 65,” Shawn said. “If it can save a life, it’s definitely worth the investment.”
Those interested in supporting AED maintenance in the community can contact Crabtree at 507-220-2424.