When Crystal Thorton was singing “I want your ugly; I want your disease.” at the Lady Gaga concert this past week, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t wishing for a condition that leads to sudden cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, the condition runs in her family and until know, was undiagnosed.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Lady Gaga fan died and was brought back to life at the singer’s Tuesday night’s concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. But the quick thinking of a friend and medical staff saved her life.
33-year-old Crystal Thornton said she had been looking forward to the concert for five years. She and her best friend, Christina Tugman, had seats in section 103.
“(We were) Just laughing, cutting up like we always do,” Tugman explained.
During the opening act Tugman noticed Thornton was suffering from what seemed to be a seizure.
“Here body was twitching, she had stopped breathing, her eyes were in the back of her head and I grabbed her face, screaming out her, trying to get her awake,” Tugman said.
Tugman waved down an usher who paged the onsite medics. A Vanderbilt LifeFlight EMT supervisor immediately responded and found Thornton was unconscious and had no heartbeat.
“The were able to get a defibrillator on her, perform CPR on her and defibrillate her heart, shocking it back into normal rhythm in just a few minutes,” Dr. John McPherson explained.
