'She Wouldn't be Here': Quick Thinking Husband Credits Simple Skill Everyone Should Know With Saving His Dying Wife

Will Maule : Mar 12, 2018
Faithwire.com

Incredibly, Andrea recovered without any brain damage or lasting effects, largely because of the quick-thinking of her husband. Had her brain been left starved of oxygen for a prolonged period of time, it is likely that she would have suffered severe disability. Doctors later diagnosed Andrea with a previously unknown heart condition...

[Faithwire.com] A Wisconsin man has been hailed a hero after administering life-saving CPR to his wife. Luke Benrud walked into his kitchen to find his spouse Andrea lying motionless on the floor. After initially thinking she had fallen over, he quickly realized the severity of the situation and sprang into action. (Photo: Luke and Andrea Benrud/Facebook/Luke Benrud/via Faithwire.com)

"I checked her head and there wasn't any blood, then I realized she didn't have a heartbeat, or anything," Bedrud told PEOPLE of the horrific incident. "I set Aiden down, he's screaming, and I got on the phone with 911. I had them on speakerphone while I'm giving Andrea chest compressions with my 5-week-old screaming in the background and our dogs running around."

But Luke knew he had to focus; if he didn't do something now, he would lose his beloved wife forever. He doubled down on the chest compressions, determined to get her heart pumping once again. After what felt like an eternity, her face began to change color-blood started to rush through her veins. Despite the pandemonium that surrounded him, Luke kept going.

"I knew where you needed to do the compressions, and I remember that you have to do them harder than you would think you'd have to do them," Benrud recalls. "You do them faster and harder than you would think, especially when it's your wife, right? You don't want to hurt her, but I knew you have to do them with enough pressure."

Paramedics arrived and asked Luke if he could get the door and restrain his dogs, but he refused. He wasn't going to leave his wife's side until the first responders were next to him. The medics rushed into the house and began working on Andrea with a defibrillator.

"As I did CPR and talked to 911 with Aiden screaming, my adrenaline was going and I was in the moment not really processing what's going on, just doing what I needed to do," he says. "Once I'm standing there holding Aiden watching someone else give Andrea CPR and hook her up to the defibrillator, that's when it hit me, the gravity of the situation"...

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