Retired teacher and military veteran David Fulcher is glad to be alive to tell his story—what he remembers of it anyway.
The 68-year-old semi-retired Morgan Hill resident was taking a local martial arts class with his grandson the evening of Sept. 27 when he collapsed and suffered Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
Fulcher doesn’t remember the next few scary moments, but a chain reaction of heroic measures by a slew of individuals saved his life.
“I’m still breathing. I’m glad to be doing that,” Fulcher said Monday from his Morgan Hill home, where he is recovering from a fractured sternum and overall body soreness.
Life-saving measures were started by Sensei Rowdy Hall, founder of the Renkishin Dojo, who immediately started Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on Fulcher as others called 911.
Nearby South County paramedics, as well as the emergency response crew from the El Toro Fire Station, quickly arrived at the dojo on East Main Avenue and used an Automatic External Defibrillator on Fulcher. He was given about eight electric shocks to his body before regaining consciousness.
“I’ve been around a long time and I’ve never thought about getting those electric shocks,” said the former Nordstrom Elementary School teacher. “I’m here because all those people did the right thing.”
Fulcher was transported by ambulance to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and then airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose that evening.
“As the doctor told me up at Good Sam, we shouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” said the retired Master Sergeant with the United States Air Force.
That’s because there is only a 10 percent survival rate of the more than 326,000 victims who suffer cardiac arrest outside of the hospital per year, according to the American Heart Association.
“There was somebody looking over my shoulder that day,” Fulcher said. “If I have nine lives like a cat, I think I used eight of them all in one night.”
Fractured ribs and sternum are frequent complications of thoracic compression during CPR in adults, according to resuscitationjournal.com, and that was the case with Fulcher, who the doctor told his injury meant the CPR was done correctly.
Fulcher’s daughter, Tsubomi Fulcher-Emery, said the entire family plans on taking a CPR certification course after what happened to her father. Her 13-year-old son, RJ Parker, was taking the class with his grandpa when he collapsed.
“Hopefully, this can help get the word out for more people to want training in CPR, or businesses may want training in using a defibrillator,” Fulcher-Emery said. “Honestly, this situation opened the eyes of our family….You never know when it can save a life. It’s what saved my dad’s.”
Racing Hearts, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit, recently deployed 19 AEDs throughout the local school district and another 15 were placed in each MHPD police car. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors made a $500,000 matching offer to Racing Hearts to make that possible.
Before returning home from the hospital, surgeons placed an implantable cardioverter defibrillator inside Fulcher. The small device, which is installed in the chest, helps control life-threatening arrhythmias with electric shocks.
“The doctor told me when it kicks in you’ll know it,” Fulcher said.
After serving in the Air Force from 1967-87, a majority spent in Japan where he met his wife, Fulcher attended San Jose State University to finish his bachelor’s degree and earn his teaching credential. He first taught in Modesto starting in 1990 until moving to Morgan Hill to take a job at Nordstrom Elementary seven years later. Fulcher retired as a full-time teacher in 2007, but remains a substitute teacher with Morgan Hill Unified School District.
