Aaron Cegniz (right) fully recovered and at home with his wife Tami (left).
In late June 2022, Cengiz, a father of six and an avid runner, was on a run with his dog when he rolled his ankle badly. A few weeks later, he thought he might have COVID-19 because of his incessant cough. He also began experiencing severe pain in the back of his knee. He made an appointment to take a COVID-19 test, but when he went to get tested, he felt dizzy and light-headed, and had difficulty breathing. He called his wife, Tami, but his breathing worsened. Then he called 911 and started to pray.
After he was admitted to the hospital, Cengiz’s oxygen level was determined to be dangerously low at 79 percent despite being at 100 percent oxygen.
“My breathing got worse, and I actually thought: This is it. I am going to die here,” Cengiz said. At that point, the staff sedated him and that is all he remembers for a long time.
Cengiz’s lungs were full of clots that had developed after his ankle injury, and the clots were causing a massive pulmonary embolism. He was taken to the Interventional Radiology Lab where doctors used the Inari device, which removes clots from the bloodstream and then filters the blood and returns it to the patient. The device successfully removed the clots, but Cengiz’s heart stopped twice during the procedure. “There was significant improvement with no more clots present. But his heart had just had enough,” said Elizabeth Kraft, RN, manager of Cardiac Services at the hospital.
After the procedure, Cengiz was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for monitoring. The doctors talked to Tami and explained to her that Cengiz’s heart was failing and even if he survived, he might suffer permanent brain damage because his brain had been deprived of oxygen. “We were not hopeful he was going to recover,” said Dr. Ali Bawamia, who noted that Cengiz nearly died again in the ICU.
When the medical staffers who had worked with him on Friday night checked on him Saturday morning, they feared the worst. But the staff found that not only had Cengiz survived, but he had improved considerably.
“We became hopeful,” Bawamia said. “I was very emotional. It is one of those cases I cannot forget. As human beings we do the best we can. But sometimes it takes intervention from above.”
Cengiz’s progress continued. He woke up fully on Sunday evening, and by Monday morning he was off the ventilator. Amazingly, the medical team could not identify any lingering issues from his near-death experience. A week later, he was home.
“Sometimes in health care, we need a miracle to keep us going, to remind us why we do what we do,” Kraft said. “This man walked out of the building because of our amazing work as a team and by the grace of God!”
Cengiz also believes his recovery was miraculous. “I felt like God had used these professionals as instruments in His hands to perform this miracle,” he said.
Julie Busch, associate vice president, marketing and communications for UChicago Medicine AdventHealth
