Okla. Woman Says Prayer Saved Her After Artery Dissection

Feb. 12-- Jara Herron believes in miracles.

After 52 days in the hospital -- about 30 of which were spent in the intensive care unit -- and several serious touch-and-go conditions, the owner of the Jara Herron Salon in Brookside is rehabilitating and back at work part time.

She is recovering from a rare heart condition and complications that left her critically ill in late September. Her condition was so serious that doctors prepared her family for the worst, and she was given last rites twice.

Herron, who is 39, knew something was seriously wrong during her third trimester of pregnancy.

"I felt like I was dying," she said. "I said it more than once to my co-workers, 'I know this is bad to say, but this has got to be what it feels like to be dying.' I would have to lay down and rest," Herron said.

Unexpected trauma

Just 10 days after she gave birth to her sixth child, a daughter named Paloma, Herron suffered a SCAD heart attack -- which stands for spontaneous coronary artery dissection.

"My chest felt weird and tight. My husband said I looked panicked. Then my arm started tingling," she said. "What had happened was the wall of my artery ripped."

Doctors told Herron that while her body was sending hormones in preparation for childbirth, some of those hormones "migrated, softening the artery on my heart," she said. The main artery in her heart had split.

After her husband, Jason, called 911, Herron had cardiac arrest, and she was eventually flown by Life Flight to St. John Medical Center. She said paramedics resuscitated her for almost an hour.

"I died before we got out of the driveway. For almost an hour they did not have a heart beat. They don't usually work on someone for much longer than an hour, and the EMT who helped me said, just as they were about to stop, that I'd give them a sign, like I'd wiggle my finger or something small," she said.

But several other life-threatening conditions kept Herron in critical condition.

"I had something like four other things (wrong) while I was at the hospital," she said. "My kidneys shut down, and they said I had to start dialysis four times a day. Then I had respiratory distress, then I had a (gastrointestinal) bleed. That was all in the first two or three days."

She had another cardiac arrest stemming from the bleed, which resulted in doctors removing part of her colon. And she also had to battle excessive fluid, a blood fungus and a blood clot in her arm.

But Herron's doctor, Dr. Tom Kalapura, an interventional cardiologist with St. John Health System, had the latest technology waiting for her.

Science and prayer

Kalapura said the hospital had purchased an Impella device about two weeks earlier.

"It's a miniature pump, so to speak, that takes blood out from the heart and pumps it into the rest of the body," Kalapura said. "Her heart was not really pumping out blood to the rest of the body, so (the body) was failing. We had the device waiting for her, so to speak. We were ready for the ideal patient to come along, but usually we try to put it in people less sick than she was."

Herron was the first patient to have the Impella at the hospital, and it proved helpful for this "very rare condition," he said.

"We left it in for a few days -- I think that's the longest anyone has had it in the state," he said. "Usually when you put it in, you take it out when the patient is stable."

But Herron was still too sick. Kalapura and his team had to prepare for the worst.

"We even considered putting her on the (heart) transplant list, but she was too unstable for them to take her," he said. "So we were hoping she would be OK on her own."

Thanks in part to the device, which took some of the strain off her heart, Herron slowly started to recover.

Kalapura said the nurses and the staff treating Herron were "amazing," and he also credits her family for their support.

"After the long ICU stay and on several occasions, we did not think she would make it," Kalapura said. "But her family are very religious people, and there were always people there praying for her. That was a big part of it. After a while we really don't know what's going to happen."

Kalapura said "she's doing great right now," but her heart is still weak and part of the muscle is dead. But she can live with limited function.

"Some of it might get better, some of it might not," he said.

When she left the hospital and went home on Nov. 17, Herron said, "I could barely turn over in bed. I had to have assistance doing everything, and today I'm in rehab on a treadmill, and working."

Less than five months later, she's working part-time and trying to get back to normal. She said her age is on her side, helping her heal faster.

Overwhelming support

"It's been a wake-up call to everything. None of us are thinking about our mortality," she said. "It's all about the big picture, not about the small things. They just don't matter."

Herron's family and friends rallied around her during her time in the hospital.

"They kind of camped out at the hospital for 30 days," she said.

A Facebook page was created by a friend to encourage prayers and well-wishes, and more than 800 people quickly signed up for updates.

"I don't know how to describe it. It's a life-altering experience," said Herron's sister Jan Dietrich. "It was like watching a TV show. What you see when they gather you in the room and the doctor talks to you. It's an overwhelming experience."

Herron said she was fortunate to have a close-knit family, who took turns helping her husband with the children to keep up their routine. And she praises her staff, who kept the business going while she was away.

"The good thing is we were a close family to begin with, so we didn't have to come together. We were already there," Dietrich said.

"Every day I'll think about it. We feel very lucky and fortunate because we understand that many people experiencing similar things won't be so lucky," Dietrich said.

Another of her sisters, Jill Bliss, has been working at Herron's salon since 2001. Although it was a difficult time, she said the team at the salon pushed through.

"We couldn't have done it without the staff we have," Bliss said. "They all picked up and carried on. Like one of the hairstylists said, 'I know what I can do for Jara right now is pray and work.' "

The outpouring from friends and well-wishers was a comforting surprise for the family. They continue to talk with supporters, some who have never met Herron.

"Part of the reason I feel she is recovering is because of this outpouring from clients and everyone. It was overwhelming," Dietrich said. "It was an incredible experience, oddly enough."

Herron, who is Catholic, said her family's faith has carried them through the process of healing.

"I had so many people praying for me -- people I don't even know. This massive prayer is really what got me through it, even though I don't remember it all," she said. "The big picture is what matters, and it's about loving my neighbor."

Kim Brown 918-581-8474

kim.brown@tulsaworld.com

Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.