We never expected to start a nonprofit.

In December 2025, our dad — healthy, active, no warning signs, no cardiac history — went into sudden cardiac arrest at home. Our mom was there when it happened.

A year earlier, she’d taken a CPR class through her company. One of those workplace trainings most people figure they’ll never use. That morning, she did.

With a 911 dispatcher on the line, she started compressions right there at home. Hands on chest, keeping blood circulating and oxygen flowing to the brain — until the EMTs arrived and took over. Her training saved his life.

At the same time he was admitted to the cardiac ICU, another patient arrived in sudden cardiac arrest. That person did not survive. We’ve never forgotten that. The distance between our family’s outcome and theirs was measured in seconds, in training, in someone being ready — and it’s why we do what we do.

The recovery has been remarkable — but that word doesn’t capture how long or difficult the journey has been.

What many people don’t realize is that surviving cardiac arrest is often just the beginning. When the heart stops, the brain loses oxygen. Many survivors face brain injury and require months or even years of rehabilitation. It’s not just a physical recovery — it’s emotional and mental, and it touches every member of the family.

We’re grateful to have had access to the resources and care needed for recovery. But we quickly learned that most families don’t. Long-term brain injury rehabilitation is limited, expensive, and difficult to find. That reality is part of what drives us every day.

This organization didn’t start with a strategic plan. It started with a family sitting together, trying to make sense of what had happened — and asking what we could do so that fewer families have to face this alone.

It grew from the gratitude we feel toward the first responders who helped save a life, from the heartbreak we carry for families who weren’t as fortunate, and from the deep belief that awareness and preparation can close the gap between those two outcomes.

Since our experience, friends and community members have gone out and gotten CPR certified — simply because they heard our story and wanted to be ready. That kind of ripple effect is exactly what Restoring the Rhythm is about. We want to take that energy and build something meaningful with it.