Jack Sutherland couldn’t breathe.
He woke up in a panic.
And when he tried to raise his hands to his face, he discovered they were strapped down.
Sutherland then opened his eyes and saw his wife Carole, and son, Chris. It was just after 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 9, 2015. He was in a hospital bed at Harborview Medical Center, and had just come out of the emergency room after being treated for a cardiac arrest.
The last thing Sutherland remembered was walking to his chair, microphone in hand, at the lunchtime meeting for the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island Rotary at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.
Sutherland had been walking around the room minutes before, sharing the microphone with people who had good-news announcements for the “Happy Bucks” part of the program.
Bainbridge Island Fire Chief Hank Teran, a Rotary member, was sitting on the other side of the room.