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Cardiac arrest struck Livermore resident Jeff Herrington just over one year ago, but he has since made a full recovery due in part to the quick responses by his family and the Livermore Police Department.
The near-death experience shocked the Herringtons, as Jeff was just 53 years old when his heart gave out. But when it did, his wife Jennifer and 13-year-old son Brady provided life-sustaining chest compressions while awaiting help.
Though the incident is still laced in trauma after its first anniversary, Jennifer hopes that sharing the family’s story many inspire others to learn CPR and take stock of their own health.
The family also extended many thanks to the Livermore police officers who were first on the scene — Fabiola Robles and Justin Meyer — for the critical role they played in saving Jeff’s life.
“If there’s gunfire, (police are) the ones running to the gunfire. If there’s somebody that can’t breathe, they’re running to the problem, not waiting back — and she exemplified that, how she got here so fast to help,” Jeff said of Robles.
It had been like any other Sunday in the Herrington household. The family walked their dogs, played card games and Jeff helped his oldest son Brady with a poster project for school.
That evening, Jeff fell asleep in Brady’s room and began snoring louder than usual. But Jeff didn’t respond when Brady attempted to wake him after midnight on Nov. 13, 2023.
Jeff stopped breathing and Brady screamed for his mom.
The lower chambers of Jeff’s heart were fluttering instead of contracting with regular beats, the family later learned. He was experiencing ventricular fibrillation.
Once awake, Jennifer told her son to call 911 and started chest compressions. The two took then turns giving CPR as they waited for first responders.
Having learned the technique at 16 years old, Jennifer said, “I was like ‘I don’t even know if I’m doing this right.’ Voices in my head were like, ‘Just keep going,’ and I totally believe in the higher power that helped us that night.”
She added, “He was gasping and I tried to revive him, but we couldn’t, he just continuously turned more blue.”
Within minutes, Robles arrived at the scene to aid in CPR.
“I feel God placed me in the area that night to save Mr. Herrington’s life,” Robles said.
Next came Meyer, followed by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department.
Jeff received mechanical chest compressions from a LUCAS device, but his heart would not regain a regular rhythm. Even the defibrillator wasn’t bringing him back.
“When they left the house, they did not think we were going to have a good outcome,” Jennifer said. “We all thought the worst had happened.”
But in the ambulance ride to Stanford Tri-Valley hospital, a fourth zap from the defibrillator brought his heart back into rhythm.
Once at the hospital, the doctors treated him with ice therapy to preserve his brain function. Then he was transferred to the ICU and placed under a medical-induced coma.
Surrounding him were family and friends, including those Jennifer calls her “prayer warriors”.
“You’re on survival mode, so you don’t have time to grieve. You’re just trying to figure out, ‘how do I get through every single step?’” Jennifer said. “It was the quiet moments that I would just pray, talk to him, meditate.”
Each time doctors attempted to bring him out of the coma, Jeff became agitated. Meanwhile, doctors could see Jeff’s brain activity, but no one knew what that would mean for his conscious functioning.
At first, Brady and 11-year-old brother Cody stayed out of the hospital.
“I was trying to protect them and I didn’t want them to see their dad like that. He was bandaged from head to toe. He had wires all over his head. He had a tube coming out of his mouth. I mean, it was pretty tough,” Jennifer said.
But upon the kids’ persistent requests, they visited their father and prayed. From within his coma, Jeff raised his eyebrows to their voices.
After five days, doctors lifted Jeff’s coma, but he stayed in in-patient care for another 15 days until he was ready to go home. Even after leaving the hospital, he continued to receive physical and occupational therapy through mid-January.
Then in April of this year, an MRI declared his full recovery. It showed he suffered no brain damage or vascular imperfections from ventricular fibrillation.
Brady, Robles and Jennifer made the difference between full recovery and the life-changing effects of oxygen deprivation, Jeff said.
Jennifer added, “If Brady wasn’t on his computer at midnight, because he was supposed to go to school the next morning, this would have had a very different outcome.”
No one would have been able to intervene if Jeff was downstairs watching football highlights or sleeping alone in the music room, Jennifer explained.
Now 54 years old, Jeff says he’s more mindful of his health.
He’s been alcohol-free for a year and watching his caloric intake. He also has a pacemaker in place to help regulate his heart.
Now that everyone is healthy in the family, they’ve begun traveling again.
Jeff said, “I appreciate all those people that did stuff for me, whether they know me and love me or those that didn’t even know who I was. It’s amazing.”
When reflecting on the incident, the Herrington family gave a shout-out to the officers involved in helping Jeff.
Jennifer said, “They saved our family and they’ve become family and we already have police that’s family.”
For their critical role, Meyer and Robles were awarded the Departmental Lifesaving Award.
“I am proud of the actions Officer Meyer and Officer Robles took and for their role in this event. We are so happy that they were there in Mr. Herrington’s time of need,” Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young said.
As takeaways, Jennifer wants to see more CPR class offerings, so people are prepared for the unexpected. She also urges people to pay attention to their own health, regardless of age or gender.
“I appreciate everyday more,” Jeff said. “For me it was a good eye-opener, a very lucky eye-opener.”
