Quick Action Saves Dancer After Sudden Cardiac Arrest

G'bari Gilliam was living the life he had dreamed about since childhood. The professional hip-hop dancer had moved to Los Angeles, built a successful career and was rehearsing for his next performance when his heart suddenly stopped.

Gilliam, 32, suffered sudden cardiac arrest, an electrical malfunction of the heart that causes it to abruptly stop beating. The odds were stacked against him: Sudden cardiac arrest kills about 90% of those who experience it outside of a hospital. Survival depended on a chain of people acting within minutes.

A fellow dancer immediately started CPR. Other dancers ran out of the dance studio in search of an automated external defibrillator (AED) and found one at a nearby dentist's office. A speech pathologist who had just completed CPR recertification and happened to be nearby used the AED to revive Gilliam's heartbeat.

Paramedics then rushed Gilliam to the Cedars-Sinai Emergency Department, where he had another cardiac arrest. Surgeons placed Gilliam on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a form of advanced life support that temporarily took over the work of his heart, giving it time to recover-or, if necessary, bridging him to a transplant.

Cedars-Sinai experts say Gilliam's case illustrates the importance of bystander CPR and quick medical response.

"The key to G'bari surviving sudden cardiac arrest was the fast-acting individuals who provided CPR, facilitated the use of an AED, and the Cedars-Sinai Emergency Department and cardiothoracic surgery teams who began ECMO within the hospital," said Evan Kransdorf, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute and one member of Gilliam's team of physicians and surgeons.

During cardiac arrest, blood stops circulating, explained Pedro Catarino, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

"The cells of the body, particularly the brain, will die within a few minutes without circulation," Catarino said. "Gilliam's heart was in and out of a rhythm that doesn't sustain circulation, so the surgery team put him on emergency life support."

Gilliam's heart had ceased working, so he was listed in the organ donation system. After 12 days on life support, Gilliam received the news every transplant candidate hopes for: A donor heart had become available.

"Heart transplantation offers a new chance at life for patients like Gilliam," Catarino said. "Gilliam is an athlete and can look forward to going back to his career with a heart that has a long lifespan."

A pathology report showed Gilliam had a severe form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition that causes the heart muscle to thicken so that the heart cannot contract and pump blood properly. The condition likely caused Gilliam's sudden cardiac arrest, his medical experts say.

"Many people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy don't have symptoms, and athletes who are used to pushing themselves to be out of breath might not realize they have it," Kransdorf said.

Geneticists in the Smidt Heart Institute tested samples of Gilliam's heart and found that he had a genetic variant associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Experts encourage anyone with a family history to be screened for the condition, which affects about 1 in 500 people. Gilliam's close family members are undergoing genetic testing.

Gilliam, whose credits include performing with Bad Bunny and on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, is now in physical therapy and preparing to return to dance.

"With dancing, it feels like I'm able to be my most authentic self and be the most vulnerable version of myself. It makes me feel alive," he said.

Prior to his medical emergency, Gilliam's schedule consisted of dance classes and gym training five days a week. He hopes to return to intense days and to continue teaching dance to elementary school students and choreographing dancers on TV and film sets. His mother and girlfriend are supporting him, as are many friends, family members and fellow dancers.

"What I learned from this experience is everyone should be trained in CPR because you never know what's going to happen," Gilliam said. "Even more so, be a person of service. If you have the opportunity to help someone, do it."

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights-Sudden Cardiac Arrest: Genetic Cause More Common in Younger People