Story
"Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, half a million inspiring participants, and more than $3 million raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world."
My event with information and full map of the course I will be running: http://toughmudder.com/events/florida-2012/
Ok so here's my story...
My name is Damon Dossett. I’m 21 years old and I'm about to start my senior year at the University of South Florida, where I'm majoring in environmental science and policy. In February of this year, I was invited to a yearly geology banquet that is kind of a big deal for geology people. I was extremely nervous about meeting so many important people in the geology world. I went to the state fair before going to the banquet to spend some time with my girlfriend and relax before the banquet. Last thing I did at the fair before we left was ride the mechanical bull...my memory stops right before I rode the bull. I woke up in the critical care unit of the Pepin Heart Institute 5 days later.
Everything I am telling you from now, up until the time I woke up, I'm telling based on accounts of others.
No, I was not hurt riding the bull. Apparently I did pretty decent and have a video of the whole thing. I came home from the fair, got all suited up, picked up my friend, played a little madden 12, then headed to the banquet. We were all outside on the patio celebrating before the banquet. The alumni association paid for an open bar and steak dinner for all guests. It was an easy decision for me to get my favorite drink, rum and coke. We walked around the patio talking to everyone. Apparently I met many people and was having a great time. Then I turned to my friend and told him I wasn't feeling the rum and coke and was going to toss it in favor of a beer (RED FLAG! I do not waste rum!) I tossed my rum and came back over to the group. He left to go get us a couple beers. As he was walking away he heard a loud thud and shocked reactions from people as a collapsed to the ground. I experienced sudden cardiac death. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_cardiac_death I was dead. No pulse, no breathing, dead. Luckily the girlfriend of one of the alumni was an ICU nurse. She immediately began cpr on me. The building did not have an external automated defibrillator. The paramedics were called to bring an AED immediately and attempt to resuscitate me. After I had been dead for minutes the paramedics arrived with the AED. They shocked me multiple times and got my heart beating again. Then put me in the ambulance to the hospital, where they had to shock me more. I was in bad shape in the ER and had abnormal posturing indicating severe brain damage. They put me into a medically induced hypothermic coma to preserve as much brain function as possible. I woke up from the coma quickly and had no brain damage. Although I don’t remember my first few days awake in the hospital, I was communicating with people and understood where I was. More medical stuff happened which involved lots of tests, then eventually, I woke up with memory.
I had to have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) put into my chest. Now if I heart stops, the ICD shocks me to put my heart back on rhythm. Initially I couldn’t use my left arm and had terrible motor function in my right arm. Now I only notice lack of motor function in my left arm while lifting weights at the gym. I lost around 13lbs during my time in the hospital which was 99% muscle mass. I have been working towards getting back into shape with Insanity and p90x, and have made tons of progress. By December I plan to be ready for Tough Mudder.
I ran Tough Mudder last December in peak physical condition. I was the hardest physical thing I have ever done. Being able to complete it again this year is very important to me because it will mean I have made a substaintial recovery from my SCD event. I want to share my story with others and raise money for charity in the process.
I had never heard of this heart condition before it happened to me. I have no family history of it, and no preexisting medical conditions. I want to raise awareness of sudden cardiac death, especially in young athletes. I want to promote putting AEDs in all public buildings. SADS works to put AEDs in community buildings as well as provide other cardiac devices.
As I do not live in England, I was looking for a charity in the US to raise money for, but could not find one on this site. I have alot of family in England (Grimsby), and my mom was born there, so I figured donating money over there would be good as well.
If anyone wants to donate money towards my entry fee or towards gas/food etc used for completing the event that would be pretty awesome too. I'm expecting it to cost me around $150-180 depending on when I register for the event. Some of the registration costs are donated to the Wounded Warrior Project, so if people donate money for this, I can register later so more money will go to that chairty.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.