Serendipity in Motion
January 11, 2025 started out as a normal Saturday for 47-year-old Jake Yoon as he and a group of buddies met at the Club for their regularly scheduled morning of basketball. Despite being a little tired from a recent business trip, Jake, a husband and father of two teenagers, felt fine. He paced himself throughout the first few games, then started to run a little faster after he felt warmed up. It was just a few plays into the next game that Jake suddenly couldn’t breathe. He had just enough time to tell his friends he needed a break before his vision went black and he collapsed.
What transpired next was a scary and confusing blur for Jake. “I was completely out, but it wasn’t painful,” he explains. “The first thing I remember was someone cutting my shirt and then I started hearing things, but I couldn’t understand anything,” he continues. Eventually Jake’s vision brightened, and while he was unable to speak or move, he began to understand the questions he was being asked. By that time, the paramedics were on the scene, and he was ready to be transported to Overlake Medical Center.
Luckily for Jake, a fortuitous series of events started to coalesce around him the minute he fell to the floor. Guest Ryan Valdes, a former firefighter, just happened to be queuing up for his next game of pickleball when he heard a loud bang coming from the basketball court. “I looked over and saw Jake lying on the ground, so I went over and found that he was unresponsive. I assessed his condition by checking his radial and carotid pulses, but, unfortunately, there were none present.” After attempting a few basic responsiveness checks, Ryan began CPR. Another member, nurse Connie Garvey, who was also in the gym at the time, immediately jumped into action, assisting where needed.
The gym’s AED (automated external defibrillator) was retrieved by members Scott Weiss and Jane Malico (who also called 911), setting off the Club’s emergency response. “I was in the business office when I heard someone run down the hall yelling for help,” explains Scott, a long-time member. “Jane said there was an AED in the back of the gym, so she and I ran over to get it. We put the patches on Jake’s chest and waited for the machine to scan, after which it advised we shock him. I pushed the button; the shock was delivered and Jake immediately gasped for air. It literally jump-started his heart on the first try.”
While this was Scott’s first time using an AED machine, it’s not his first experience with a cardiac incident. In 2023, Scott suffered a massive heart attack at the Club while sitting in the sauna after a workout. “I am now fully recovered,” says Scott. “My heart function was 100 percent restored. It was great to be able to pay it forward.”
Ryan shares a similar sentiment. “I’ve been involved in numerous incidents like this,” he explains. “However, it’s rare to have the opportunity to learn about the outcome of the individual involved afterward,” he continues. “I feel truly grateful that I was able to be present to help Jake during such a critical moment. It’s a blessing to know that he was able to go home to his wife and two kids.”
A blessing is exactly how Jake describes this whole experience. “I feel like all my angels lined up for me in the right place and at the right time,” he says. “The prior Thursday night I played basketball at a church in my neighborhood. I can’t help but think that if this had happened there, the outcome would have been very different.”
Jake ended up spending four days at Overlake under the care of cardiologist Dr. Ronnier Aviles. Initial EKG and blood test results didn’t show any clear cause for his heart attack. At first it was suspected that perhaps he had a genetic issue that causes the heart to stop without warning. But after some meticulous sleuthing via an MRI and angiogram, it was determined that Jake’s heart attack was caused by a clot that resulted from a rupture formed when a small piece of plaque came loose from an artery wall. A barely healed scar at the rupture site was the final piece of evidence Dr. Aviles needed to complete the puzzle.
“Jake’s is an amazing success story,” explains Dr. Aviles. “He suffered the most common type of heart attack caused by a ruptured cholesterol plaque in the coronary arteries, and his story highlights that the chain of survival [CPR, AED usage] works. It just needs to be activated immediately, and the fact that it was for Jake is what saved his life.”
After taking a week off, Jake returned to his job as a software engineer at Amazon with a stent in his artery, prescriptions for several different medications, 12 weeks of cardiac rehab and encouragement from Dr. Aviles to view the experience not as a trauma but as a gift. Which is Jake’s absolute goal.
“All these people somehow ending up being at the Club on that morning by their own choice, and I’m the biggest beneficiary of all those choices and the confluence of events,” says Jake. “Even joining Bellevue Club in the first place helped save my life,” he continues. “If there’s one thing I’m taking out of the incident it’s that I need to be more responsible about my health for my kids and my wife. For them, I need to really pay attention to this.”
Jake’s Angels
Ryan, Connie, Scott, Jane and EMTs weren’t the only people instrumental in saving Jake’s life that day. Members Tricia Ignacio and Rich Lane helped administer the AED, and Club employee Cameron Olski joined Red Cross instructor and lifeguard Brandon Eckhardt as first responders.