43 minutes. That’s how long SHN’s emergency team worked relentlessly to defy the odds and bring Hugo Pereira back from the brink of death. Because they refused to give up on the morning of January 2, 2025, Hugo has a new life. 

It was 5 a.m. when Hugo, 54, woke suddenly. Getting up this early wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, but he immediately felt a sharp pain in his chest. “I couldn’t shake it, and I knew something was wrong,” he says. “I called for my wife Raaniya and began getting dressed because I knew I had to get to the hospital.” 

From there, the details blur. But Raaniya will never forget.

“She remembers me holding my chest and starting to tip over. She was able to break my fall and called for my son Nathan who was thankfully home from university.” Hugo’s 21-year-old son is a past lifeguard and knows CPR.

“While 911 was on the line, my son started CPR and kept going until the paramedics arrived and took over. It is beyond my belief to think they intubated me and shocked me six times by the time I got to the Centenary Hospital, just 14 minutes away from home.”

Raaniya, their son Nathan and 17-year-old daughter Nasya, followed the ambulance. The emergency team took them to a private room while Hugo was whisked away into the resuscitation area. A Code Blue, indicating cardiac arrest, was called, and emergency physician Dr. Jack Chou led the resuscitation team behind closed doors.

“Raaniya never lost hope that I would survive. She was always positive, and relied on her faith,” says Hugo.  During that time, which seemed like forever, Raaniya and her two children were treated with great compassion. “The emergency team took care of my family too. They brought them water, helped calm everyone down, and showed so much support.”

Meanwhile, Hugo says “he wasn’t going anywhere. I am pretty stubborn.” 

After 42 minutes of repeated compressions and multiple shocks, the doctors told him later they were beginning to think he wouldn’t make it…until they saw a flicker of life. “By minute 43, I was back.”

Hugo had what clinicians call the “widow maker,” a massive heart attack caused by a 100% blockage in a major artery that supplies blood to large portions of the heart. Hugo required an emergency procedure to unblock the artery in the Cath Lab and was put into an induced coma for six days. “The doctors weren’t sure what my condition would be since I was without oxygen for so long. They even prepared my family for the worst, but when I woke up the first thing I did was ask for my wife and family.”

Hugo says he felt the “tremendous human touch” of the Intensive Care Unit team during his six days—their high level of care, professionalism, and empathy. This feeling continued when he was transferred to the Coronary Care Unit, where he met Dr. He (Tom) Chang and a caring team of nurses and started his recovery.

“Within a couple of days, I was walking around. My progress was so incredible they even felt I had the strength to undergo a procedure to remove a 90% blockage in a second artery.”

Dr. Shane Parfey, a cardiologist from the Cath Lab who performed Hugo’s initial and second procedure to unblock two arteries and insert a stent, was stunned to see Hugo just a few weeks after being rushed to emergency. “He said, ‘Wow, I am so happy to see you. I can’t believe you are here.’”

Dr. Parfey and Dr. Ankit Garg (Fellowship) even autographed his report indicating that Hugo had “flatlined.” Hugo has since framed it as a symbol of the start of his second life.

Today, Hugo comes to Centenary for cardiac rehabilitation every Friday and will for the next five months—it’s something he is happy to do. He is now focused on lowering his stress levels, continuing to eat healthy, and exercising.

“I was an active person and considered myself to be very healthy before. I have never smoked, rarely drink, was a regular blood donor, exercised regularly, and ate well, so I never would have expected this to happen to me.” 

But he still refers to it as a wake-up call. “Not everyone gets this second chance, so I am going to live mine to the fullest,” he says. “I am blessed that God was with me, to have family and friends praying for me, and to have the incredible doctors and an amazing healthcare team at SHN who never gave up. They made me feel loved and gave me a second life.”