After Surviving a Near-Fatal Heart Attack, Nurse Reunites With the Caregiver Who Saved Her
A moment of crisis turned into a powerful bond between two women who needed each other
When nurse practitioner Alison Hoit leaned over a cardiac patient’s bedside and assured the frightened woman she was going to be okay, she never guessed that mere months later she herself would be comforted in a time of need by the very same woman! Here, they share their story with Woman’s World.
Early Monday morning, NICU nurse Pam Kays was listening to the charge nurse give a report to a trainee when a wave of nausea and heat rushed through her body.
I must be coming down with something, she thought. But then her jaw clenched and her chest tightened painfully.
Pam recognized the symptoms and headed into the practitioner’s office. “I’m having a heart attack,” she calmly stated as her arms and legs began tingling.
“Quick! Chew an aspirin!” her manager instructed and summoned the hospital’s emergency team.
In the ER, doctors started an IV, but Pam soon went into full cardiac arrest.
A calming voice
Pam suffered a “widowmaker” heart attack and a surgeon had to open her blocked artery with a stent.
Pam was on a respirator hours later when she awoke. She motioned for a pad and pen and wrote: Is the respirator in correctly? How long will I be on it?
The cardiac ICU nurses scurried about, trying to calm Pam and answer her questions. But then Alison Hoit, the unit’s nurse practitioner, appeared.
Realizing Pam was terrified, Alison gave a warm smile. “Don’t worry. We’re going to take good care of you,” she said, and her words settled over Pam.
The next morning, Pam was strong enough to breathe on her own.
By Alison’s next shift, Pam had already been transferred to another unit. It was common for Alison to treat patients and never know their outcome.
Happily, for Pam, the outcome was excellent. After only four days, she went home and started cardiac rehab. Three months later, she was feeling like herself again and back at work in the NICU.
The miraculous reunion
A few months later, Pam approached a new patient, an infant born six weeks premature. “How are you?” she asked the woman sitting nearby.
“This is my granddaughter, Maddie,” the woman explained, clearly anxious.
The two women continued their chat as Pam checked the baby’s monitors. “My daughter also works for Cleveland Clinic—in the cardiac ICU,” she said, and Pam broke into a smile.
“Really? I was a patient there a few months back,” she said — and just then, the baby’s mom returned to the floor.
It was Alison, who stopped short, pointed and exclaimed, “You’re Pam!”
Just then, Alison broke down in tears. “I’m so scared,” she sobbed. “I can hardly keep track of what’s going on.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Pam echoed the words Alison herself had spoken to her in her darkest hour. “We’re going to take good care of Maddie.”
Pam and Alison spoke nearly every day. “Is this okay? Is that normal?” the worried mom would ask, and Pam always made her feel calm and hopeful.
After six long weeks, Alison got to take Maddie home. She’s doing great, and today Pam and Alison remain close friends.
“It was fate,” Alison insists. “Pam and I were meant to meet when each of us needed the other most.”
Pam agrees. “Alison gave me comfort and courage during a scary time. I’m so grateful I was given the chance to do the same for her!”
This story first appeared in the March 30, 2026, issue of Woman’s World magazine.
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