Houston mom grateful for series of 'small miracles' that saved her life after cardiac arrest

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Dalyce Bradshaw said the day she nearly lost her life started as a regular day.

The 41-year-old said it was a normal Tuesday in May. She had just taken her daughter off to school and was settling into her first video call of the day.

A few minutes into the call, her colleague in Australia saw Bradshaw suddenly slump over.

"I didn't start slurring. That kind of caught her off guard in terms of behavior. Everything was totally normal until it wasn't," explained Bradshaw.

Bradshaw's doctor, Dr. Ben Bobrow at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann, said she was clinically dead.

"She actually had a cardiac arrest. Her heart stopped. She was clinically dead," explained Bradshaw's doctor, Dr. Ben Bobrow.

It was nothing short of a miracle that the colleague just learned Bradshaw's husband also worked for the company and was able to message him about the situation.

"I saw frantic typing of, 'I am speaking to your wife right now. Something is wrong. You need to go and check it out," Bradshaw's husband, Dan Arbour recalled.

Thankfully, Dan remembered CPR training and was able to help his wife until paramedics arrived.

"If her husband didn't start CPR, she would have been dead in a matter of minutes," explained Bobrow.

After several touch-and-go days in the hospital, Bradshaw beat the odds.

Bobrow said only 8% of people who have cardiac arrests outside of the hospital survive, and it may be more common than you realize.

"It is, again, one of the leading causes of death. Somewhere around 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in the United States," explained Bobrow.

Bradshaw is now encouraging everyone to be able and willing to perform CPR if the situation arises.

"If everyone has training and can recognize symptoms of a cardiac arrest, hopefully, we can drive the survival rates higher and there will be more people like me that are on the other side. (I'm) so grateful still to be here," said Bradshaw.

On Thanksgiving, Bradshaw is extra grateful for everyone who played a part in giving her more time to make memories.

"I am just so lucky and so blessed, so I do definitely look at my husband and my child and my family and my friends and the beautiful life we had already created together. We did a pretty good job of enjoying it before and now," said Bradshaw. "It's just got that extra glow."