37-year-old Anthony Yahle, father of WSU student Courtney Yahle, made national news Aug. 5 after being declared dead for 45 minutes. For reasons currently unknown, Yahle's heart began beating again, and he has since made a full recovery.
Yahle said she was at home with her father when his troubles began.
"I was listening to music when I heard screams from my parents' bedroom," Yahle said. "My mom and brother yelled at me to call 911 because my dad wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse."
After restarting his heart several times, Anthony Yahle's doctors declared him dead. Then, according to Courtney Yahle, her brother ran into their father's room and said, "you're not going to die today."
"My father was completely flat-lined when my brother first went in," Yahle said. "A few minutes later, he came back out and told us that there was a heartbeat."
In addition to expressing his sympathy for the family, WSU medical student Josh Wenzell was intrigued by the thought-provoking case.
"This is particularly interesting because it encompasses a key aspect of declaring death, which is a more complicated subject than it might appear," Wenzell said. "I'd be interested to hear what criteria were used for the declaration of death, and I hope that subsequent studies are being done to figure out what actually happened."
With this trying event occurring in the weeks leading up to the beginning of fall semester, Courtney Yahle had mixed feelings about returning to school.
"At first, I was planning on taking a break, but after talking with my family, they convinced me that something like this should affect me positively, not negatively," Yahle said. "It is hard to tell if it will affect my studies, but I won't take it for granted."
Yahle offered some advice to her fellow students.
"I would like to tell everyone to stay positive and hopeful, no matter how dire a situation may seem," Yahle said. "And of course, go raiders."
