Melissa Fay is a Stamford mom of two, Emily (13) and Wyatt (11). Her story of survival is what inspired the Stamford nonprofit Lucky Mother.
Three years ago, she was running on a treadmill at the New Canaan YMCA while her son was at swim practice. About a mile in, she had a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), which is an electrical malfunction with her heart. It stopped and she collapsed. Fellow gym-goers and YMCA staff sprang to action – giving her CPR and shocking her with the AED two times before EMS (which luckily was one mile down the road) arrived.
Melissa woke up in Norwalk Hospital about two days later from an induced coma to stabilize her. It took some time to recover, but besides some brain fog and minor treadmill burns, she is totally fine. Doctors could not find a cause for the SCA, but Melissa had surgery to implant a defibrillator a couple of months later and with no restrictions she can live a normal life.
We spoke to Melissa about how Lucky Mother and its annual fundraiser take the “luck” out of survival by raising awareness around the importance of bystander CPR in order to prevent sudden cardiac death.
Why did this experience lead you to start Lucky Mother?
An experience like this definitely gives one perspective and the realization of just how precious life is. If it were not a rainy, cold, dark January evening, I would have been running outside by myself. I was also so lucky that bystanders at the YMCA took action, were CPR-trained, and that an AED was close by. If these things had not aligned, I would not be alive.
I have an amazing group of friends that just wanted to do something after this experience to pay my good luck forward. We started by having a gathering on the one-year anniversary of my SCA with the thought of raising a little bit of money to be able to donate AEDs to local businesses in Stamford where I may have been that fateful night. We did not know what to expect but that first year we raised over $10,000, so we realized this is a powerful story that can help us make an impact in our community.
Tell us about Lucky Mother and what the organization’s goals are.
Lucky Mother’s goals are to provide CPR/AED trainings to the community and to donate AEDs to local businesses or places in Stamford (or surrounding towns) where they are needed. Over the past three years we have hosted 14 CPR training events (about half for private businesses and half for the community such as at the Stamford Boys & Girls club), trained over 300 people, and donated 12 AEDs to local businesses.
Since we are all working moms without the bandwidth to run our own non-profit, we have been fortunate to have met another Stamford resident and fellow SCA survivor, Mike Papale, who runs the organization In A Heartbeat and has a similar mission to raise awareness and prevent Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Mike also puts together events that provide free ECG screenings for kids to help detect any issues that may lead to SCA. All of the funds Lucky Mother raises go to In A Heartbeat, and Mike is very generous with his time in facilitating our CPR trainings and procuring the AEDs that we donate.
How does the Lucky Mother Celebration on February 2 help you achieve those goals?
The event on February 2 is meant as a celebration of life and gratitude. We want to take the “luck” out of survival by raising awareness around the importance of bystander CPR in order to prevent sudden cardiac death. We also hope to raise funds to continue making an impact on Stamford and surrounding communities by hosting CPR trainings and donating AEDs. Specifically, we have started working with the City of Stamford to ensure there are accessible AEDs at all of the fields where kids play soccer, so one of our goals for the upcoming year will be to have these installed by the spring.
What has been the most rewarding experience with Lucky Mother so far?
It has been rewarding to realize how powerful my story is. The outpouring of support from friends, family, colleagues, and strangers who have shown up to our events, donated funds, and gotten CPR trained themselves has been truly amazing.
How are you doing now?
I am completely back to normal. Sometimes when life gets too crazy being a working mom, I have to remind myself that I am so very lucky to be here!
Click here to learn more about Lucky Mother and get tickets to the fundraiser on February 2!