03/23/2026
Heart-stopping reunion: Patient thanks St. Mark's Hospital nurse who brought her back to life.
In September 2025, 38-year-old Amanda Hunt felt something "off" in her chest. It worried her. She was driven to the ER and was admitted to the hospital. "While I was just sitting here and relaxing by myself, my vision started going kind of funny and started getting a little lightheaded. Went to go reach up and call the nurse, and everything just went black," Amanda recalled.
Her young heart had stopped.
Amanda suffered a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, or SCAD — a rare and largely misunderstood cardiac event that doesn't follow the typical heart attack profile. Thankfully Amanda's nurse, Ellie Roemmich, responded immediately and began CPR. Amanda woke up to a group of medical professionals standing over her, including Ellie. "Once I saw her and recognized her, I'm like, 'Ellie, okay, I see you.'" Amanda knew everything was going to be okay.
Nearly six months after the terrifying ordeal, Amanda reunited with Ellie for the first time.
WATCH: https://bit.ly/4rTpJtU via FOX 13 News
"It makes me so happy just to see that smile. It's just the same one that I, you know, came back to life with," Amanda explained.
Thanks, Spencer Joseph, for capturing this beautiful reunion!
Amanda's physician, Dr. Nischala Nannapaneni—a board certified Cardiologist and Cardiac Electrophysiologist—has a message for anyone reading this. It is direct: Don't wait.
"Do not ignore chest pain. Get to the hospital as fast as you can. Do not ignore the signs of heart attack, because time is muscle," Dr. Nannapaneni warned.
MountainStar Healthcare | HCA Healthcare
In September of 2025, the 38-year-old Utahn, like many of us, felt something was off, but the feeling wasn't certain. Chest pain had her worried, but like many of us, it would have been easy to ignore