1060 Ridgewood Ave, Holly Hill, FL 32117
Pickleball saved my life, in more ways than one!
The day Kim Moneyhun ended up on life support was an otherwise typical day. Her pickleball team league was beginning and Kim and her teammates had arranged to scrimmage at the local rec center after lunch. The group was familiar with one another as players, a few were better friends, but all were about to save Kim’s life.
Kim had finished some stretching and was positioned to take her first warm-up serve when Sylvia Whitehouse, a well-respected instructor at Pictona, was walking by. Sylvia heard the serve of the ball and heard Kim say, “Whoa” or “uh-oh” and turned as Kim fell to the ground. According to witnesses who rushed to her side, Kim’s lips and cheeks turned blue within seconds. Kim was in cardiac arrest. She did not have a pulse and Sylvia immediately began to administer chest compressions. EMT’s were notified and until they arrived 6 minutes later, Kim’s friend Cami Morrison kept administering CPR. Once on site, the EMT’s placed a LUCAS (an automated CPR device) on Kim while she was transferred to the hospital. As she was arriving at the hospital Kim’s organs started to fail and doctors worked to lower her body temperature as a preventative measure. Kim was placed on life support and in a medically induced coma.
As Kim was being transported to the hospital, her pickleball teammates were unsuccessful in trying to reach her husband, Jim. Jim’s recent knee surgery left him immobile and he was reliant on Kim for his care, so they drove to the Moneyhun home and picked him up.
That first night was touch and go and they were told that Kim had a “slim chance of making it through the first night.” She did, and on the 3rd day they were warned that when Kim came off of life support, she may have signs of brain damage. Against the odds, on the 5th day Kim was removed from life support and spoke for the first time. Over the next few days Kim gained strength and learned about everything that her pickleball community had been taking care of on her behalf. Jim’s knee was not healing properly and he was facing a possible second surgery. Her pickleball angels stepped in and drove Jim back and forth from the hospital to appointments and took turns sitting by her side when he could not be there. Kim woke up one day to Sylvia singing to keep her company! Most fortunately, one the ladies on the pickleball court that day was a medical professional and stepped in to act as Kim’s health advocate.
After 8 days in ICU, Kim was able to walk 2 laps with a walker, another 2 laps without, had a defibrillator and a pacemaker implanted and was moved out of ICU. The next day Jim had a second knee surgery and their pickleball community stepped up again. Miraculously, 10 days after falling on the court and being without a pulse for 10 minutes, Kim walked out of the hospital!
For the next few weeks Kim was determined and put in the work to recover, probably due to her training and time in the Navy. To everyone’s surprise and awe, Kim was cleared to play pickleball a little over 6 weeks from the date of her incident. She is back to playing a few times per week and plays weekly at Pictona. When Kim hit her first pickleball at Pictona about 2 years ago she could not have imagined that the sport would save her life and introduce her to so many wonderful, strong and caring women!
See you on the courts, Kim!