A mother-of-three whose husband died of cardiac arrest nine years ago has spoken out to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking even one energy drink – as she revealed a doctor told her it is ‘like playing Russian roulette with your life’.
Cassondra Reynolds, 49, from California lost her ‘soul mate’, husband of ten years and the father of her three children when he suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest in 2011, aged 41.
As a mechanic John Reynolds often worked nights and would reach for an energy drink at the beginning of every shift to keep him alert – not realizing the dangers.
Cassondra said: ‘He was my only family, he was my everything and he was my soul mate and now he’s gone.’
Cassondra Reynolds, 49, lost her ‘soul mate’ and the father of her three children when her husband of ten years John (pictured together) suffered a cardiac arrest in 2011, aged 41
She woke up on February 5, 2011, to hear her husband gasping for breath as he suffered a cardiac arrest in bed.
Cassondra had to move him on to the floor where she performed CPR before the emergency services arrived three minutes later.
As this was happening, her three children walked in asking, ‘What’s wrong with Daddy?’, and she had to send them to their rooms.
‘I just couldn’t believe that it was happening. I was in a state of panic and shock because I had no idea what was happening to my husband,’ she said.
She has released a heartbreaking photograph of the last time her children saw their father, in a medically-induced coma, in a bid to draw attention to the risks of energy drinks
‘I saw him turn from blue to grey and I was just praying that nothing would happen to him.’
The couple’s three sons were five, six and eight at the time their father’s life support machine was switched off 14 days later.
When John, who the doctor said had the heart of a 25-year-old, was brought to hospital he was put into a medically induced coma at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
The couple’s three sons were five, six and eight at the time their father’s life support machine was switched off 14 days after his cardiac arrest (pictured together on holiday)
Cassondra said: ‘John was healthy, he worked out every day, he had had a full physical examination the month prior and all his results came back fine.
‘When he went to the hospital, the doctor told me that his sugar levels were sky high and were asking me all sorts of questions about his lifestyle, whether he took drugs and if he had any health issues.
‘He was put in a medically-induced coma and a therapeutic state of hypothermia to try and prevent any further damage to his brain caused by a lack of oxygen.’
By February 19 John was pronounced brain dead and Cassondra was left with the heart-wrenching decision to turn his life support off.
Cassondra, pictured with her husband, says watching him take his last breath was the most painful thing she had ever experienced
‘Eventually, the doctor asked me if he drank energy drinks which I replied yes, but only once a day. He immediately explained that it only takes one energy drink to throw off the rhythm of your heart causing a heart arrhythmia,’ she said.
‘When he was pronounced brain dead, I let my children come and visit him to say their goodbyes. I asked the nurse to remove as many wires as possible so that they wouldn’t be scared.
The mother-of-three (pictured recently) woke up on February 5, 2011, to hear her husband gasping for breath as he suffered a cardiac arrest in bed
‘He was a really good dad and the best husband, watching him take his last breath was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I felt like my heart was physically breaking.
‘He was the love of my life and my soul mate. You can’t move on when your heart belongs to someone else.’
Nine years on from her husband’s death Cassondra is raising awareness of the damage even one energy drink can do – because the mix of sugars and caffeine with other additives can be too much for the heart.
She has released a heartbreaking photograph of the last time her children saw their father, in a medically-induced coma, in a bid to draw attention to the risks.
She said: ‘I want people to know how dangerous these drinks are, and I need people to speak out about losing their loves ones because it happens all the time, you just don’t hear about it.
‘The doctor told me that drinking energy drinks is like playing Russian roulette with your life and that really stuck with me.’
When John (pictured right with Cassondra and one of their sons) was brought to hospital he was put into a medically induced coma at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Cassondra said: The head cardiologist came out and told me: ‘Your husband is a very fit man and his heart is strong like that of a 25-year-old.
‘It’s not normal for a healthy 41-year-old who doesn’t drink or smoke, who has what appears to be a strong heart and just had a physical with no findings, to suffer a cardiac arrest. We need to find what caused this.’
He asked Cassondra about the kind of foods John ate and what medication he was on. Finally he asked whether he drank energy drinks.
She added: ‘I told him that yes he does, but only once a day before he goes to work because he has to work night shifts.
The doctor asked Cassondra (pictured with John) about the kind of foods John ate and what medication he was on. Finally he asked whether he drank energy drinks
‘They began to put the pieces together, but I still couldn’t believe that one energy drink could cause this much pain.’
After four days of being in the hospital, Cassondra was told that her husband had an anoxic brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain and had a long road of recovery ahead of him.
‘During those two weeks, I didn’t allow the boys to visit because I didn’t want them seeing their dad in that state,’ she said.
‘He was linked up to so many wires and I just didn’t want them to have that image in their head.’
Cassondra Reynolds and her husband John. After four days of being in the hospital, Cassondra was told that her husband had an anoxic brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain
John’s brain continued to seize and 14 days after he was first admitted into the hospital, he was pronounced brain dead.
It was time for their three sons to say goodbye to their father.
‘I told them three days prior he was going to be going to heaven and not able to come back home to us.
‘They knew they were going to say goodbye, but they were too young to really process and understand it all.
‘Telling them that their Dad had passed away was the second hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, the first being turning off his life support.
Cassondra on holiday in Antigua with her husband John. She said that he was perfectly healthy and his heart was that of a 25-year-old when he suffered a cardiac arrest caused by energy drinks
‘I sat there squeezing his hand and kissing him for 31 minutes as I watched all signs of life slowly leave this beautiful man’s body. This man who was my everything.’
And to add insult to injury Cassondra found out that despite being an organ donor, a nurse had forgot to contact the relevant organisations.
‘My husband was supposed to be an organ donor and I thought at least his death would mean something,’ she said.
‘I found out a few weeks later the nurse never contacted the proper people to harvest his organs when he expired.
‘He had the most beautiful blue eyes and I just wanted to be able to see them again but that chance was taken from me.’
Almost a decade later Cassondra has launched the Awareness Project which aims to educate people on the dangers of energy drinks and pre-workout supplements.
‘If you suspect that your loved one has had an adverse reaction to these drinks, report it to your governing food agency,’ she added.
‘These drinks are not tested enough and there is no age limit in the US for who can buy these drinks.
‘It’s important people understand the dangers do not lay solely with the high caffeine and sugar content.
‘It’s the synergistic effect when these substances are combined with the additional stimulants contained in energy drinks that appears to be causing so many cardiac issues.
‘I have heard so many horror stories from parents whose children have died as a result of these drinks yet less than one per cent of energy drink related adverse effect and deaths are reported.
‘I don’t want anyone to go through what me and my children have had to go through these past nine years, it doesn’t get any easier you just learnt how to cope with it’.
The group that Cassondra started, ‘Energy Drink and Pre-Workout Awareness’, currently has 11,000 members on Facebook.