‘Miracle man’ makes amazing recovery after heart attack put him in a coma

A Cairns woman has been hailed a hero after she saved her husband’s life when he went into cardiac arrest at their Bently Park home.

A Cairns woman has been hailed a hero after she saved her husband’s life when he went into cardiac arrest at their Bently Park home.

Neals Biehler, a 37-year-old father of six, had just left his house and was driving to Yarrabah to his job as a carpenter when he began to feel a ‘weird’ sensation in his chest.

Thinking it was reflux, he called his wife Tessa to let her know he was coming home.

“He left at 5.30am that morning and was one-third of the way to work when he called me to say he wasn’t feeling so good and might come home,” Mrs Biehler said.

Mrs Biehler said her husband called her a few minutes later to say he was fine.

“Then he rang again said it hadn’t passed and he was coming home. I only had baby’s movicol so I said we’d get something when the chemist opened,” she said.

“Within 25 minutes of being home he was sitting down next to me when his body went stiff and he started to spasm.”

Mrs Biehler performed CPR on her husband for around 10 minutes after he suffered a heart attack while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

Realising something was wrong, Mrs Biehler immediately called triple-0 and followed the operator’s instructions to perform CPR until the ambulance arrived.

“It took maybe ten minutes for the ambulance to get there. A couple of the kids were awake so that put more worry on me as a mum trying to guard my kids,” she said.

Once the ambulance arrived, paramedics performed CPR on Mr Biehler for a prolonged period of time before using an automatic chest compression system and transferring him to hospital. He was taken to the emergency department where he was found to have a blocked artery.
“He had a blocked artery so they took him in for emergency surgery and put a stint in his heart,” Mrs Biehler said.

Mr Biehler was put into a drug induced coma for two weeks where he was hooked up to a breathing tube.

“They need to take out the tube out every two weeks for hygiene purposes but the plan was to take it out and see how he went. If worse came to worse, they’d put a trachy in,” Mrs Beihler said.

Tessa and Neals Biehler's six daughters attend a local dance studio who helped raise funds for the family's GoFundMe page.

But when Mr Biehler was taken off the breathing tube, he could breathe well on his own.

He remained in the Intensive Care Unit for another week where he was found to have suffered a brain injury.

“At the time he wasn’t quite all there.

“He was delusional and mentally unstable but now he’s in the rehab ward, and he’s more coherent and settled,” she said.

One month on, Mr Biehler can walk, talk, move around and eat.
“My understanding of what the doctor said was he was definitely going to have a brain injury but was unsure to the degree.

“On one end he could remain unresponsive in coma or on life support.

“Or if he woke up, unable to communicate, talk or walk or he could become close to normal. “We didn’t know for sure where he was going to end up which was the scariest thing.

“I call him my miracle man,” she said.

Cairns carpenter Neals Biehler is lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack at home that left him in a coma for two weeks.

Mrs Biehler’s sister Alana Walker started a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the family which Mrs Biehler has said was a massive relief.

“Neals is the sole income earner in our family and the first thing he said when he woke up was ‘I need to go to work. Who’s going to pay our mortgage?’,” she said.

So we’re really grateful for the support we’ve had from our community.”

All money raised will go toward paying bills and travel costs as the family prepare for Mr Biehler to undergo brain rehabilitation in Brisbane.

“We want to urge people to get their heart checked, especially if heart attacks run in the family. Or even if you just make yourself aware of the symptoms, even if you’re trying to live healthily, just be more aware,” Mrs Biehler said.

Originally published as ‘Miracle man’ makes amazing recovery after heart attack put him in a coma