23 Minutes, No Pulse: Julieta Valdes
Outside hitter Julieta Valdes approached the morning of May 3, 2020 just like any other day. While doing a light workout at home, Julieta went into cardiac arrest. For 23 minutes, Julieta had no pulse, until a miracle happened.
I have always been an extremely healthy athlete. I never expected someone like me to ever experience something as serious as this. On that day specifically, I took my dog out on a walk, I played some volleyball outside, I went on a 3 mile run, and I came back to have a light weightlifting session with my sister in our home gym later that night.
I was doing tricep push-ups when suddenly I just didn’t feel so well. I said “oh god” and suddenly lost consciousness. I fell back and hit my head really hard and when I didn’t have a reaction, my sister knew something was seriously wrong. She screamed for my mom to come upstairs and by that time, I had peed myself which let my mom know that this was serious. My mom began makeshift CPR on me while my sister called 911. Later, the dispatcher walked her through proper CPR while my mom waited for the paramedics to arrive. My lips were purple, my skin was blue, my eyes were wide open, and my brain was making me gasp for air even though It wasn’t possible since my heart had stopped beating. I was dying.
The paramedics and EMTs arrived in about 6 minutes. They worked on me while my sister and mother watched. They strapped me onto an automatic CPR machine that would pump my chest to the ground over and over again. They drilled a hole into my femur to shoot adrenaline through my bone marrow since my veins weren’t an option because my blood wasn’t flowing. My blood accumulated in my lungs which caused me to spew liters of it out through my mouth and into my hair and our carpet. I was literally dead. After about 23 minutes of no pulse and 4 AED shocks later, I got a pulse!
It was very hard to see myself the way that I did after my incident. I came home 25lbs lighter, with an ICD in my left chest and a foot long scar that ran vertically over my split sternum. I no longer saw that toned athlete that I used to be. It took me a while to learn how to walk again and build up the strength to walk up the stairs and do simple things that I never thought about before. Volleyball is still up in the air since I haven’t received clearance because doctors don’t know if exercise makes me more prone to going through something like this again.
At first, I didn’t know exactly what was going on so I just did the interview and didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until I read the comments on posts and I developed depression and anxiety that it really got to me. However, I never stopped from sharing my story because I just hoped that my experience could bring awareness and save someone else’s life someday.
Before, I couldn’t imagine myself having any impact on society outside of my volleyball accomplishments. However, I have realized that volleyball is an amazing sport but it is not my whole life and it is most definitely not the most important aspect about myself. We have so much outreach whether it’s in sports or out of them but they don’t necessarily define us the way I used to think.
The biggest thing I learned is that you never think it’s going to be you until one day, it is. Life is way too short. I will never be able to live as carelessly as I did before. I make sure to tell everyone that I love that I love them constantly and obnoxiously because we never know when that might be our last.
I would love to say thank you to all of the people that supported me, prayed for me and my family during such a tough situation, and helped me get through this! My family and I needed that kind of support and we received so much more than we could’ve ever asked for!
Your body is the most important thing. As someone who has pushed through to play many injuries, it is pivotal to put your physical and mental needs first before the game. No matter how bad the injury, if your doctors approve of it, you can always bounce back. Don’t give up on yourself when things get tough!
