Skip to Content

We’ll be working on VA.gov soon. The maintenance will last about 2 days. As we do this work, you won’t have access to many online applications and tools. Thank you for your patience as we make these improvements.
Start: Friday, July 11, 2025, 10:00 p.m. ET
End: Sunday, July 13, 2025, 3:00 p.m. ET

Surviving the Unthinkable: A Veteran's Two Brush with Death

Army Veteran Wayne King with the dedicated staff of the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center's Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU).
Army Veteran Wayne King with the dedicated staff of the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center's Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) who played a crucial role in saving his life when his heart unexpectedly stopped.

By William-Joseph Mojica, Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist

Army and Vietnam Veteran Wayne King expressed his sincere appreciation for care he received at the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center where he attributes his life being saved, not just once, but twice!

“They brought me back and told me that I was a miracle,” said King when describing what happened. 

In the spring of 2025, King started feeling something irregular in his chest and after it got progressively worse, it turned out he needed a stent implanted. Prior to the procedure, King ended up having a heart attack requiring the stent to be implanted shortly after. Unfortunately, King suffered another heart attack leading to a quick action response from the staff that was present.

“That was traumatic for me because when I woke up, my hands were tied and there was a tube down my throat. I heard my son say ‘daddy, it’s gonna be alright; dad don’t fight it,’” King recalled.

As it turns out, King’s heart had stopped and when this happened, the NF/SGVHS MICU team immediately began performing compressions for a period of time.

“They said my heart stopped for 25 minutes,” King explained. “One of the nurses jumped on top of me and started doing compressions to make sure I was getting oxygen to my lungs and to my brain. I was told the whole critical care team came in to work on me for 25 minutes. I knew something happened because when I woke up it felt like a truck landed on my chest,” he said with a chuckle.

As if one medical scare weren’t enough, King also recalls an issue in 2017 resulting in a perforated colon which also led to King becoming septic.

“Whatever it was, perforated my colon and that’s when they had to rush me in for immediate surgery,” King said. “I’m just thankful that I had some great people working on me. I told MICU ‘I’m so thankful for you. I love each and every one of you. Ya’ll are professionals and you saved my life. You said my heart stopped for 25 minutes. I’m not a doctor but if a heart stops for 25 minutes, that’s not good.' 

“I think the miracle part of it was the fact that after 25 minutes, that when they got my heart [beat] back that when I came to, I didn’t have any brain damage whatsoever,” said King.

“The Operating Room team was truly touched and deeply appreciative of his visit,” said Theresa Wilson, NF/SGVHS Deputy Nurse Executive. “It really meant a lot to the operating room staff to hear from one of their patients how important their work is each day in the lives of Veterans.”

Ultimately, King wanted to express his gratitude for the staff who have taken such good care of him. 

“I’m just happy that I’m able to come home to my family and my little grandson. Yeah it was a miracle because 25 minutes is a long time,” King said.

One of the coordinators for King’s visit to thank the staff was NF/SGVHS Staff Chaplain Justin Maynard.

“It was an honor to witness this Veteran look our VA healthcare team in the eye and personally thank them for saving his life on two separate occasions in our hospital,” said Maynard. “The SICU, OR and MICU were so inspired by him being able to express his gratitude not just for himself but on behalf of the countless Veterans’ lives that are saved every day.”