With a Knitting Needle Piercing Her Heart,Keeping Cool Saved Ellin Klor`s Life - Twice

Palo Alto Woman`s Story a Memorable Lesson in Survival
STANFORD, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Pick apart what happened to Ellin Klor on the front porch of a friend's house in
2006 and her miracle of survival reveals itself as a list of crucial
momentseverything from her calm reaction to the shocking sight of a knitting
needle sticking out of her chest to the easy availability of top-flight trauma
surgeons at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. Then came another life-saving
diagnosis, precipitated by her emergency care.

Klor tells her jaw-dropping story very calmly. It is a story of survival so
remarkable it doesn't need to be trumpeted, but it offers memorable lessons on
why some people survive terrible circumstances. Klor's survival story will be
included in "Newsweek" magazine, an upcoming edition of ABC`s 20/20 and in a new
book, "The Survivors Club," by New York Times best-selling author Ben Sherwood.
Sherwood found Klor when he attended, as research for his book, one of the
Hospital`s annual Trauma Survivor Reunions, organized by Stanford Trauma Center
director David Spain, MD.

Sherwood`s visit made sense: The Hospital has the only Level 1 trauma center for
adults and children between San Jose and San Francisco. That status, awarded by
the American College of Surgeons to recognize highly trained staff and
sophisticated equipment, improves survival odds by 25 percent for people with
the most grievous injuries.

Klor needed every bit of Stanford`s expertise. She was in a rush that evening,
late for a knitting circle meeting, her hands full of books and knitting bags,
when she tripped and fell face forward with a thud. "I didn't know at first what
had happened," she said. "When I got up I noticed I had a pain in my chest
whenever I took a breath." As she peeled off her coat, and then her
sweater--there it was: The broken end of a size 11, foot long wooden knitting
needle, about the width of a drinking straw, sticking out of the center of her
chest, right at heart level.

The odds were steeply against her survival. Only two out of 10 people with
penetrating injuries to the heart make it to the hospital alive. If they get
that far, survival rates range from 40 percent to 70 percent. Klor is well aware
that being less than 10 minutes away from Stanford and the Trauma Center made an
important difference. "On a whole bunch of levels, I'm alive because of the
excellent care I got at Stanford," she said. "They were just amazing."

But so was she. No blood was coming from her wound, and, as the daughter of a
doctor, Klor had long before developed the ability to see injuries and remain
calm. She was also a mother and a children's librarian "where you have to deal
with stuff all the time," she said. She also knew that no one but a doctor
should remove that knitting needle, despite the urgings of those around her.

Stanford trauma surgeons were amazed when Klor arrived. She was awake and alert
and very calm, not exactly the standard state for someone with such an injury to
the heart. Trauma surgeon Susan Brundage, MD, took charge of Klor's care.
Carefully holding on to the knitting needle, the surgical team sawed through
Klor's sternum and finally saw exactly what was going on. The needle had
punctured the right ventricle of the heart, but again, the odds fell toward
Klor`s survival. Because the needle had remained in place, there was no blood
pooling in and about the heart and it functioned as if nothing were wrong at
all. Out came the needle and the team sewed up the 8mm laceration and then wired
the sternum together again. Klor was home in a few days.

There was a part of her, Klor said, that had thought, once she was declared
clear of her breast cancer in 1994, "that I didn't deserve any more." The
accident, she said, showed her that, having survived it, she had more strength
than she knew. And a few days after her return home, a Stanford radiologist
called to say there was something suspicious about a lymph node captured in one
of the CT scans done at the Hospital.

It was diagnosed as a new cancer, one treated earlier, ironically, because of
Klor`s near miss with death. But living through the knitting needle incident,
Klor said, "gave me the confidence that I would survive" the new cancer, too. "I
really think this has brought out the best person I am--or could be," she said.

That attitude of confidence and her gratitude for being alive is so visible in
Klor that a woman stopped her a few months ago in the Stanford Cancer Center. "I
didn't have any hair and I was wearing a beret and she said she could tell I was
in chemo," Klor said. "But she said, 'You look so happy and so well I wanted to
talk to you.'"

Now, Klor said, "I really work to be kind--I am so grateful for all the
kindnesses that people everywhere showed to me, everyone I came in contact
with."

What Brundage saw in Klor, and what Sherwood saw, too, was that staying calm is,
perhaps, the most important behavior to survival. "You can't panic," Brundage
said. "If you panic, it's all over. Look at what happened last week in that
plane crash--people remained calm. That response is what saved them."

Sherwood has created a Web site, www.survivorsclub.org, which features a video
interview with Klor, now 58. "I hope it gives people hope," she said. "People
can survive things and discover things about themselves they never knew."

About Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex
disorders in areas such as cardiac care, cancer treatment, neurosciences,
surgery, and organ transplants. Ranked #16 on the U.S. News and World Report
annual list of "America`s Best Hospitals," Stanford Hospital & Clinics is
internationally recognized for translating medical breakthroughs into the care
of patients. The Hospital is part of the Stanford University Medical Center,
along with the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard
Children`s Hospital at Stanford. For more information, visit
www.stanfordhospital.com.

Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Liat Kobza, 650-723-1462
Media Relations Coordinator
lkobza@stanfordmed.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009