Shyvonne Allen-Ibitoye has no idea what made her change her mind on Easter and choose a matinee screening of "Shazam!" instead of attending church, but the change in plans for the registered nurse resulted in saving a life.
"I knew my son, who is 17, would really enjoy the movie," Allen-Ibitoye said recently, recalling an Easter at a Lynbrook theater unlike any she has experienced.
In the dark as the antics of a superhero began to unfold on the screen, Allen-Ibitoye heard an all-too-familiar sound emanating from several seats away. Her son heard it, too, and commented that someone was snoring loudly.
"I said to myself, that doesn't sound like snoring, that sounds like agonal breathing," said Allen-Ibitoye, who noted she recognized it because similar labored breathing has affected heart patients at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, where she works in the cardiac telemetry unit. Telemetry nurses are specially trained in tracking the electronic data of critically ill heart patients, monitoring their heart rate, blood pressure and other vital signs.
Agonal respiration, or gasping, is a sign of impending cardiac arrest, Allen-Ibitoye said, which meant the person behind her in the theater was in distress.
Leaving her son in a middle row, Allen-Ibitoye worked her way through the seats and found DeShawn Mason, 48, drenched in perspiration, barely conscious.
"I said, 'Sir, are you OK?' I gave him a sternal rub," Allen-Ibitoye said of using a fist to firmly rub the center of the chest. The activity helps determine response to stimuli, providing information on whether Mason was aware of his surroundings. He wasn't.
The nurse said she didn't panic, but yelled for lights in the theater because a man was in possible cardiac trouble. A check of his pulse revealed only a faint beat.
Yet her plea for lights went unanswered, so she ran into the lobby to tell ushers an emergency was unfolding. By the time she returned, Mason's pulse had vanished. Allen-Ibitoye immediately began chest compressions to stimulate his heart. Her son called 911.
"A woman came over and said that she was a nurse and we switched back and forth giving chest compressions," said Allen-Ibitoye, of Queens, N.Y.
Other theatergoers pitched in to help during the frantic few minutes, moving Mason out of his seat and onto the floor. Paramedics arrived by the third round of compressions, Allen-Ibitoye said.
Mason, meanwhile, said he had no idea what happened after sitting down in the theater and expecting to enjoy a noon showing of "Shazam!" with his 7-year-old grandson. He said he had a large Slurpee, and that upon sipping it, felt an unusual sensation in his chest.
"I was perfectly fine en route to the movie theater and had no illness and no signs that anything was wrong. I was just headed out for a day at the movies with my grandson," said Mason, who lives in Far Rockaway, N.Y.
The indicator that something was amiss, he said, was a keen chilliness in his chest _ and the sensation of his heart skipping a beat. "Everything went black after that. When I woke up, I was in the hospital," Mason said.
Emergency responders used an automated external defibrillator to deliver three shocks to Mason's heart to restore a normal cardiac rhythm.
Mason's condition, recognized by Allen-Ibitoye, was sudden cardiac arrest, which is not a heart attack but a disorder in which a chaotic rhythm causes the heart to suddenly stop. Without quick response, the patient can die.
The American Heart Association estimates that 366,000 patients die of sudden cardiac arrest annually. For those who experience sudden cardiac arrest outside a hospital, 90 percent succumb to the condition, the heart association has found.
Mason was taken to South Nassau, where doctors implanted a cardiac defibrillator, which monitors cardiac rhythms around the clock. When a miscued rhythm starts, the device shocks the heart into a normal one.
Hospital officials commended Allen-Ibitoye for her quick response and will honor her, Mason and the paramedics during a news briefing. He was released from the hospital.
Mason said he can't thank the nurse enough.
"I am a very spiritual person," he said. "I am just happy that there were people aligned in that time frame. I can't explain how happy I am that she was there."
