Fund in Memory of Sigrid Duffy

Hello all, My wife (of 36 years) passed away on 13 June 2008 to an arrhythmia caused by congestive heart failure (according to the Kentucky death certificate).

I did not have an autopsy performed. German born Sigrid (55) had been having chest (breast bone) pains and our care provider had a nuclear stress test, angioplasty and ultrasounds done; all within the safe zone. She also had jaw pain and was prescribed NSAID Voltaren. We took a trip to visit our kids in Germany in April and returned in May. On 9 May I awoke to her making all sorts of rattling noises and shaking uncontrollably. I shook and screamed at her. Finally I hit her just above the left breast and she woke up. She had no idea as to what happened and refused to believe me until I pointed out that she had wet the bed. Two days later while shopping she went down. There happened to be two Soldier Combat Life Savers that witnessed her going down. They saved her life by their actions. Thank you. EMS transported her to the ER and eventually to the Cardiac Care Unit. Within the first 36 hours, she had four more "attacks" but because she was on a monitor, the CCU nurses were on her real fast. They were also tremendous. They administered (sounds like) Lasik and drained several liters of fluid. Naturally, our sons came home from Europe. Within the week she was discharged and two weeks later the cardiologist gave her a clean bill of health. On the first of June, she was allowed to drive and return to work. We went camping and fishing for my birthday on the 11th of June and on the evening of 12 June (my 58th) she complained that the humidity was getting to her or she was filling up again. I asked her if she wanted to go home but (being a stubborn german) she said no and that she had a cardio follow up on the 18th. Well, I woke just before 6 AM on the 13th and within seconds she went into another "seizure/attack". An RN staying in the camping spot next to us and I did CPR for over 30 minutes until the Vol. FD arrived. They shocked her several times and transported her about 13 miles to the next ER where the doctor pronounced her dead. My question is; What happened or caused this. She was the healthy one. A glass of wine, now and then but nothing extreme. She did Nordic walking too. Hell, I should be the dead one. Anyone who can try to make me understand what happened will have my total appreciation. I miss my buddy and need to understand just what happened to our happily ever after. Thanks. Jim

Follow on: Ten weeks to the day, Sigrid's brother (in Germany) fell over dead apparently from the same thing. His friends said he reached for his left shoulder and fell off the bar stool. He never even got to taste his beer. She has two other siblings that seem fine (for now).

Finally, both of her parents had multiple bi-passes. They died in 2005 and within six weeks of each other. Mother died of heart related and her father of complications of heart, kidney and diabetes. Both were in their late seventies. Believe me, I am on my kids butts to get themselves checked out