CLEVELAND — Sensei James Stuber is a karate master.
The 66-year-old teaches karate six days a week and weight lifts each morning.
“My idea of relaxing is working,” he said.
The black belt has owned the Karate Institute of America in Chardon for 32 years.
Despite his active and healthy lifestyle, James Stuber had a heart attack earlier this year on Memorial Day Weekend.
“It’s all kind of foggy for me,” he said.
His wife, Tammy, said she was shocked when she found him in the living room recliner.
“His arms were just flailing in the air and I went over to him and I said, ‘I’m going to call 911,'” said Tammy Stuber. “He was gone. He was totally gone. His lips were turning grey.”
Tammy Stuber performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
He had no pulse for 29 minutes.
“All I remembered was you’re supposed to do the beats to Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees,” said Tammy. “So I’m singing away and I’m staying alive, I’m making sure you’re staying alive.”
James Stuber was rushed to University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center. He was treated at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute and spent time in a coma in the ICU.
He wrote a thank-you letter to everyone part of his medical team.
“If it wasn’t for the paramedics that got me there, the ICU people that did their job, the step down that put up with me, and the physical rehab… they’re the reason we’re here now,” said James Stuber.
Believe it or not, this wasn’t his first heart attack.
He was sick with COVID-19 in Feb. 2021. He told his wife he felt nauseous and ended up in the hospital.
“Mr. Stuber, you’re having a heart attack. We got to do surgery. And that’s when they put the stent in the artery that collapsed from the COVID. It clotted,” said James Stuber. “In 2021, they called me the miracle of 2021 when that happened. Now, in 2022, they said I was the miracle because of what happened and there was no damage to my heart through all this.”
The Stubers said they hope sharing their story encourages others to learn CPR because they said you never know when those live-saving skills will make a difference.
“I learned at work like 30 years ago,” said Tammy Stuber.
James Stuber wasted no time coming back to the mat with his students.
He was back in action just days after leaving rehab, but now he does his best to take it easy.
“Hmm… Yeah, sure. Yeah,” he said. “I have to say that. This is on TV. Yeah, we slowed down a little bit. We did.”
The experience pushed up the timeline for their plan to move to one of the couple’s favorite places in Arizona for a more relaxing life.
“Not retirement,” he said. “Just a transfer.”
James Stuber said he is grateful to be alive and his goal is to take advantage of every moment by doing what he loves alongside the people he loves.
“I always tell everybody if you think your life is really tough, look next door because someone has it tougher than you,” he said .
Dr. Greg Stefano is the Medical Director at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute and he said the hero here is Tammy Stuber. He credits her for saving her husband’s life with CPR and said he hopes that sharing this story encourages others to learn CPR. Stefano said that immediate action is the reason James has no brain damage.
“We weren’t really sure if he was going to wake up, to be honest with you. It was a borderline situation because even though Tammy was heroic, anytime you have an out-of-hospital event like that, you know, he wasn’t really responsive. He did have a pulse. It’s very challenging to evaluate brain function,” said Stefano.
Stefano said even without risk factors, these kinds of heart events can happen to anyone. James Stuber is likely without heart damage today because he took care of himself prior to this. Stefano said people often ignore symptoms, which can lead to serious consequences.
“A lot of times, when I talk to these people who have had major heart attacks that have not killed them, they go ‘Oh yeah. I was having chest pain for two weeks and didn’t tell anybody,'” he said.
Stefano said time is everything in situations like this, so it’s important to tell someone and get help if you have any warning signs.
