FORT WORTH, Texas — It is one of the most prestigious contests in classical piano, but after last year’s amateur Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth, the most notable moment happened once the music stopped.
Moments after he finished playing Ken Iisaka, a participant from California, walked off stage and suffered a major heart attack. Doctors said it was a widow maker, the deadliest kind of heart attack. Almost no one survives.
“When you see something like that you know you’ve got to do something and you know what to do and you just do it,” said fellow Cliburn competitor Kathy Abrahamson.
Abrahamson is also a nurse practitioner and when Iisaka collapsed during an intermission, she immediately started CPR.
“I knew what to do and I knew nobody else was doing it and I wasn’t going to wait around to see if they would,” she said. “I needed to just go do it.”
Doctors said Iisaka’s heart stopped beating for more than 30 minutes. If Abrahamson had waited, even just a few seconds, he would’ve been brain dead.
Instead, he’s searching for a way to say thank you.”
“How much can words do?” Iisaka asked.
Iisaka says there’s nothing he can say to express his gratitude, but he’ll do everything he can to show it. That’s why he recently became CPR-certified and why he was back on stage last week.
Before a concert at the Kimbell Art Museum, Iisaka teamed up with the American Red Cross to honor Abrahamson and Noah Degarmo, a physician and Cliburn competitor who also assisted in saving Iisaka’s life, with the organization’s lifesaving award.
It was a surprise to Abrahamson who says she did nothing special, only what she was called to do: love others unconditionally.
“If I can just demonstrate that love to one other person then that person gets that chance to demonstrate it to others,” Abrahamson said.
It’s something that really struck a chord with Iisaka.
“How can I give back,” Iisaka asked. “As long as I’m helping others, as long as I’m doing something that helps other people, I’m doing my job.”
The most rewarding job on earth.