COLORADO, USA — An Ohio man was having surgery in Colorado when he died on the operating table. Twenty minutes later, Todd Brainard was brought back to life.
9NEWS shared the story last summer when Brainard finally went home from the hospital. Now, he’s back for his one-year checkup, and he’s meeting the doctor and team who gave him a second chance at life.
Brainard, his wife, and their two kids were vacationing in Colorado in July 2023 when Brainard was bucked off a horse. The accident shattered his pelvis, requiring emergency surgery at Denver Health.
On July 4, 2023, as doctors were wrapping up his surgery, Brainard went into cardiac arrest.
"I woke up from my first surgery to see two doctors doing CPR on me,” said Brainard.
Twenty minutes later, Brainard’s heart started beating again.
“The doctors, nurses, and everybody else at Denver Health worked so hard to put me in a position that I can have a normal life again that I wasn’t going to let them down and I wasn’t going to let my family down either,” said Brainard.
Brainard spent the last year focusing on getting better.
“[My kids] would leave for school and I would sneak out the house in my wheelchair and race down the road,” said Brainard.
A year after he almost lost his life, Brainard is back in Denver for a follow-up visit, and to meet the people who brought him back to life.
“A lot of emotions are going on right now,” said Brainard. “Last year at this time I was in a wheelchair. Now I’m getting ready to see the doctor who gave me the greatest gift: a normal life again.”
"It's the first time I'm actually going to see him recovered because he is from out of state,” said Dr. Cyril Mauffrey, Brainard’s orthopedic surgeon.
"This is a big moment, you know,” said Brainard to his daughter, Emma. It was followed by a knock at the door. Then Dr. Mauffrey entered the room.
"Todd,” said Dr. Mauffrey with a smile on his face. "It's nice to see you!”
"Not only did you give me the greatest gift of life, I've got a good life now,” responded Brainard.
“That’s awesome,” Mauffrey replied.
After meeting Dr. Mauffrey, Brainard walked around Denver Health to meet and thank nearly every nurse, doctor, and resident who helped keep his heart pumping when his body couldn’t.
"You receive the gift of life from your parents when you are born and for somebody to give that to you again is... yeah, I don’t think words can explain this one,” said Brainard with tears in his eyes.