Back in the Driver’s Seat: Cardiac Arrest Survivor Returns to the Racetrack

Sinead Koeneke couldn't help it. A social worker at UnityPoint Health - Waterloo, she'd seen about everything, but she really hadn't seen this before, and the tears just started to flow.

After all, she found herself hugging a former patient who recovered despite all obstacles. This was the man she quietly prayed for several months earlier.

This was room 210.

The one who died a year ago at a local racetrack.

Cardiac Arrest at the Racetrack

Tom Roschen, a longtime drag racer, suffered a cardiac arrest and died in his racecar in 2024, while waiting for his turn on the track. Amazingly, people at the track - racers and attendees with nursing, emergency medical and fire service experience (including a friend with trauma team experience in Minnesota) - converged on Tom's vehicle.

They called 911 and administered CPR, even as he was still seated and trapped in the cage of his 1974 Plymouth Duster.

Revived at the track, and with eight broken ribs, an ambulance raced Tom to Allen Hospital.

"For me, it was a blink of an eye," Tom said. "One second, I'm in a car. The next, I'm in a hospital."

Emergency Heart Care and Quadruple-Bypass Surgery

Once at the emergency department, the responding team ordered a "code chill," deliberately cooling his body to help protect his neurological function. Two days later, he was warmed, his condition stabilized, and he was removed from a ventilator.

An evaluation of Tom's heart by cardiologist Himanshu Tandon, MD, revealed severe disease in major vessels. The following day, he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery with cardiothoracic surgeon, Bhavik Patel, MD, along with procedures to address an irregular heart rhythm and reduce his risk of blood clots and stroke.

It was in the ICU where Koeneke first saw Tom. Her team acknowledged his prognosis was poor, as they were concerned about how long he'd been without oxygen. He wasn't passing the eye test, either.

"As a non-medical provider, I can just say he looked terrible," Koeneke recalls. "Personally, my fiancé's friend races, too. I remember wondering if they all knew each other. Later that week, that friend, Brian, stopped over and referenced a fellow racer 'coding at the racetrack.' Brian said it was so sad, and he had no clue how long he was out or if he was going to make it."

Due to HIPAA privacy laws, Koeneke couldn't acknowledge it was the patient she'd seen in the ICU.

"I remember praying to myself at that moment for him to survive - just to survive because, honestly, I didn't know a full recovery would even be an option due to the condition I saw him in," she says.

But a crazy thing started to happen - Tom started to recover. Soon, he passed a cognitive test he initially failed and continued to grow stronger and stronger. And the team continued to support his wife, Vicki, keeping her informed and encouraged during a frightening and uncertain time.

"Allen Hospital was awesome - everybody up there just couldn't have treated me better and been more supportive," Vicki recalls.

Tom's memory eventually came into focus. He remembers physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, environmental services team members and others treating the couple with patience and compassion. Even during quiet, dark hours when sleep was difficult, he noticed how carefully staff members tried not to disturb him.

"Everybody there was just awesome," he said.

Rebuilding Strength Through Cardiac Rehabilitation

Tom's discharge from the hospital, however, was only the beginning. He'd survived cardiac arrest and open-heart surgery, but he faced a long physical recovery and underwent a handful of minor procedures. At first, he needed a walker and was unable to lift a three-pound weight. At home, Vicki poured his milk because he wasn't strong enough to hold a large glass.

Eventually, cardiac rehabilitation helped Tom rebuild his strength one step at a time. At first, he couldn't walk fast enough to use the treadmill, and the lowest setting on the NuStep machine was all he could manage. The rehab team and volunteers encouraged him as he worked toward goals that once seemed out of reach.

Tom said those relationships became an important part of his recovery. "It gets to be a friendship," he said. "You're not just a patient."

The people in cardiac rehab celebrated his progress, offered steady encouragement and helped him believe that returning to the life he loved might be possible.

Once he met his goals, he asked for more. Even now, nearly two years after his cardiac arrest, he returns for exercises and guidance from the center's Healthy Living program. The man who once couldn't lift three pounds can now lift a 50-pound fuel can.

Returning to Racing After Cardiac Arrest

Even better, Tom is racing again. He's returned to working on his car and doing the things he enjoyed before the episode. People who see him now often say that, if they didn't know what happened, they'd never guess what he endured.

"He was very motivated to recover because he wanted to get back to racing," recalls Brianna Christensen, PA-C, in cardiothoracic surgery. "That was his number one goal.

"For me, the cool part of his story was hearing about how his community jumped into action and saved his life. And then it was really cool to personally go out and see him race after he recovered. It was kind of a full circle moment."

One day back at the track, Tom spotted another familiar face. It was Koeneke, the social worker from the ICU.

"So, I'm at the track and this gentleman approached me along with his wife and asked if I remembered them," Koeneke recalls. "The wife absolutely looked familiar, although I couldn't place her. The man didn't. But when he shared his experience, I instantly remembered ICU room 210. This was the man, the patient we didn't think would make it - let alone be back out on the racetrack.

"He was standing upright - no walker, no cane, no oxygen, nothing. He gave me a firm handshake and an even stronger hug. I became tearful when I told him I'd wondered how he was doing and imagined he was likely in a nursing home somewhere."

A Lifesaving Team of Care

Tom knows his recovery depended on a remarkable chain of people: the racers who acted immediately, the emergency responders who brought him to safety, the Allen Hospital team that provided lifesaving treatment, the open-heart surgery team that gave him new function and the cardiac rehab staff and volunteers who helped him reclaim his strength.

"I am so glad Allen Hospital was here to do what they did for me," Tom said.

Today, each trip down the track represents more than a return to racing. It's a reminder of the people who helped put him back in the driver's seat.

"At some point, Vicki showed me a picture of myself sitting in a chair before surgery," Tom says. "I don't remember going into surgery, let alone sitting in a chair. It's amazing what God will do for us … I mean, I was dead. And the people I've talked to, who know what they're talking about, say you've got two to three minutes in that situation. Had they not gotten me back in that amount of time, I wouldn't be sitting here."

"It was so enlightening to talk with them about their outlook on life now and all that Allen Hospital had provided them," Koeneke said. "My job is my passion. It's not a timecard punch for me. Hearing Tom's story, seeing his full recovery and hearing him say he feels better than he ever has, that's what we, as hospital employees, yearn for and pray about."