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Surviving heart failure

Athens native recovers from life threatening illness

Lisa Fenner, an Athens native who lives in Neshkoro, nearly died from heart failure on Feb. 12. The quick actions taken by her husband, Dennis, and emergency personnel saved her life. Now the couple can still celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary on Oct. 19.

“This will be a more special wedding anniversary because we didn’t know if I would even be here to celebrate the milestone,” Lisa Fenner said.

Her parents are Tom and Betsy Weiler of Athens. Lisa Fenner gradu­ated from Athens High School in 1985 and she then served four years in the U.S. Army. After being discharged from the military, she returned home and met Dennis Fenner. The couple got married and moved to Neskoro where Dennis was operating a third generation dairy farm.

Dennis Fenner went to bed earlier than he normally does on Feb. 12 and he heard his wife gasping for air while she was laying in their bed. Her arm was limp when he picked it up and there was no response when he shook it. Dennis Fenner dialed 911 and a Marquette County Sheriff’s Emergency Services dispatcher coached him to perform CPR on his wife.

He watched Lisa Fenner’s face turn blue at the same time a Marquette County police officer arrived at the home carrying a defibrillator. Dennis instructed the police officer to break down the door because he wasn’t going to leave his wife alone in the upstairs bedroom. The police officer continued to perform the CPR Dennis Fenner had begun. Some color then returned to Lisa Fenner’s face.

Neshkoro Fire District First Responders and a Montello Emergency crew of EMTs then responded to the Fenner home to assist the police officer in attempting to bring Lisa Fenner back to life. Emergency personnel used the defibrillator to shock Lisa Fenner’s heart and, with one shock, it began beating again. Lisa Fenner was alive but not conscious.

It was snowing outside on the night of Feb. 12. Poor driving conditions made Theda Care in Wild Rose the safest place for emergency personnel to transport Lisa Fenner. By then, Dennis and Lisa’s family started to arrive, including their son Kevin Fenner, who is a Marquette County Emergency Services employee.

Emergency personnel hoped to to fly Lisa Fenner to another hospital, but they couldn’t find a helicopter able to go airborne in the snowstorm. They transported her to the closest advanced care hospital in Neenah. She was stabilized and doctors decided to fly her by helicopter to an Appleton hospital the next day.

Lisa Fenner was put into hyperthermia to slow her bodily functions down. Then, on Feb. 13, doctors started warming her up and on that night, she responded to simple commands. A few days later, Lisa Fenner had a pacemaker and defibrillator placed in her heart. She was diagnosed with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. That’s decreased heart function not caused by a heart attack or blockage. Doctors told her it could be genetic or could’ve been caused by an infection, but they may never know why she has the condition. Her heart doesn’t move enough blood out of its chambers to keep her body going.

Fenner has recovered and she returned to work last week as a medical assistant at Theda Care in Green Lake.

“With the non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and heart failure, I am now on a new regime of medications,” she said. “I also have a a pacemaker/defibrillator in place that has to be checked periodically. I have a cardiologist that I will be seeing regularly along with my primary care provider with the goal of keeping me alive and out of the hospital as much as possible.

“I’m also attending cardiac rehab two days per week for about 36 sessions to try to help my heart get stronger and to also help me be comfortable with exercise and knowing what I can safely do along with dietary help. I’m also on a sodium and fluid restriction and I need to check my weight and blood pressure daily and have to report any major changes to my doctor.”

Dennis and Lisa Fenner got to say thank you to all the emergency personnel who were instrumental in saving Lisa Fenner’s life on Feb. 12, during a Life Saver pinning ceremony.

“It was pretty amazing seeing all the people who were involved in my care that night to keep me alive; words couldn’t even describe how humbling it was to see them all,” Lisa Fenner said. “It was a very emotional night for all of our family, but it also felt healing as we got to meet everyone involved.”

Although Lisa Fenner works in the medical field, she now has an even greater appreciation for all medical personnel after she was brought back to life after cardiac arrest.

“I realized after all of this that it takes everybody in the medical profession to be able to make something like this possible,” she said.

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