I did a high angle rescue today of a 50 YO man who dropped dead in a dry creekbed while on a relatively easy hike with his family. We did CPR on this guy while we all carried him up a steep wooded embankment for 200 linear yards with 180' of vertical rise. No time for fancy rope rigs, we just hauled him up with manpower.

The piece of EDC that would have saved this guy's life?
A healthy heart.

He was heavy. Possibly obese. He was in no shape to be on the hike.

His heart gave out. His wife watched him die. Two young boys with them had looked on as he lay there and died and his friends (one an EMT) frantically tried to help while we were on the 20 minute trip it took to get there after they called. That was a long 20 minutes for them. We knew on arrival he was long gone, and his wife, an RN knew for sure when she saw the perfectly flat EKG and no response whatsoever to any interventions.

This is far from my first time dealing with unexpected deaths, but I never like the middle age guy heart attack calls because they are almost always preventable. It's lifestyle, plain and simple, that kills the vast majority of heart disease victims.

Heat disease is everywhere - forget anything else that might kill you by accident. Heart Disease is responsible for a daily slaughter of thousands of people. It's a huge, preventable killer, and unlike much of the other tools, gear, gadgets and gizmos, your heart is a piece of EDC that you can easily maintain.

Be good to your heart. It's hard work, it's worth it.