Shane Davidson's Story

Heart attack patient thanks OPMC for saving his life

Shane Davidson knew something was wrong—terribly wrong. The 38 –year– old Fleming Island resident was being treated for acid reflux. His doctor adjusted his medication, but four days later his chest pain was worse.  Shane’s wife, Kimberly, took him to the Emergency Room here at Orange Park Medical Center the evening of March 10. “I couldn’t handle the pain anymore,” Shane says. “It was beyond excruciating. It’s a pain you don’t want to feel.” Shane’s pain was due to a 100% occlusion of his left anterior descending artery (LAD).

“He was extremely unstable. The ER physicians had to cardiovert him 10 times in the emergency room for serious rhythm disturbances,” says Dr. Thomas Wolford, who placed a stent in Shane’s LAD. The door-to-balloon time for the case was 85 minutes, which beats the national average of 90 minutes. “The staff, the ER physicians, everybody did a good job,” says Dr. Wolford. “You couldn’t ask for anything better. Everybody did their job. He was very, very sick. It was not a straightforward case.”

While he was in the ER Shane remembers being told he was having a heart attack, but much of his recollection is sketchy. “I do remember Dr, Goodfriend being very alert to me and trying to keep me coherent and everything,” he says.

Kimberly Davidson was pretty hysterical, but is thankful someone was always with her, keeping her updated about what was happening with Shane.

Dr. Wolford says it’s pretty atypical for someone as young as Shane to have total blockage of a coronary artery. However, he suggests two factors may have played a part in Shane’s heart attack. Shane has been a smoker since he was 19, and as a child he had Kawasaki disease, which can weaken coronary artery vessel walls.

The experience has left Shane a different person. He has sworn off smoking and says he will make some other changes too. “You realize that you take a lot of things for granted. I’ve been very blessed in my life,” he says. “But I realized there’s a lot more I need to do to make life better and to be a better person, and be a better man for my wife.”

While he was still in the hospital, Shane counted his wife bringing him to Orange Park Medical Center as one of his blessings. “Dr. Goodfriend and his colleagues in the emergency room saved my life,” he says. “It’s touched me and made me feel good that most of them have come back around to see me and see that I’m okay. It means a lot to me that there are people in this world who actually really care.”

Photo: Shane Davidson, here with his wife Kimberly and parents Joy and Eddie Davidson, is thankful OPMC saved his life.