[Marty]

NVC golfer saved by dog after heart attack

By CRISTINA DE LEON-MENJIVAR
Register Staff Writer
Thursday, April 05, 2007

When Napa Valley College golfer Andrew Richesin, 27, lay down on the evening of March 29 to relax with his dog Jessie, it seemed a quiet end to a day that included hours in the sun at a college golf tournament.

Jessie, it turned out, made sure her owner was around to see another day.

It was about 8 p.m. when Richesin turned on the television and laid down the floor. Several hours later Richesin’s girlfriend Vanna Kalawa returned from work. Not seeing anything too unusual, she lay a blanket atop him and went to sleep by his side.

While they were sleeping, Richesin suffered from a heart attack. At about 3 a.m., Jessie — a 2-year-old boxer-pit bull mix — yelped in Kalawa’s ear to alert her that something was wrong.

Kalawa found Richesin had no pulse. She performed CPR and called 911. When paramedics arrived Richesin had no heartbeat, and did not respond to a shock. The paramedics pronounced him dead on arrival.

As the ambulance pulled into the parking lot of the Queen of the Valley Regional Medical Center, his heart slowly began to beat again.

For the next few days Richesin was in a coma, on life support and dialysis machines. Wednesday night he awoke from the coma, and his condition is slowly improving.

Kalawa credits Jessie, a dog the couple saved from being euthanized, for essentially saving her boyfriend’s life.

Richesin’s father, Charles, said doctors could not figure out his son’s condition, and say they’ve never seen anything like it. After an exam, doctors noticed Richesin had an enlarged heart. A brain scan that doctor’s expected to answer their questions didn’t help.

“The doctor said ‘I don’t know what is happening, but this is a perfect brain,’” Charles Richesin said.

When Andrew Richesin first awoke he recognized his father and a couple minutes later asked for money to buy some juice. Despite the get well card signed by all his teammates and other photos that would have reminded him, he didn’t remember he was on a golf team.

Andrew Richesin’s brain is not fully functioning, and with each passing day several other organs are slowly functioning at a higher level, his father said

He is expected to improve, and for this Kalawa is ever grateful.

“I’m the first one who thought he was gone, but now I see there is hope and I’ve never stop praying,” Kalawa said.

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