Kevin Marcus Miller had joined a rec basketball league in Seattle in August 2019 to reduce work stress and get more exercise when an unfortunate incident happened. Minutes into his second game, Miller, then 25, went down on one knee. And then he collapsed, unconscious, the American Heart Association News reported.
A man who runs the adult basketball league called Tim Kerns had just walked into the gym when he realized that people had gathered around a man on the court. Kerns thought Miller had turned an ankle or had a seizure until he checked Miller’s wrist and neck area for a pulse and found out there was none.
“We’ve got to start CPR pronto,” Kerns told everyone that had gathered at the scene. According to the report by the American Heart Association News, “While one man went to call 911, Kerns began chest compressions. As he pushed hard and fast in the center of Miller’s chest, someone else helped stabilize Miller’s body and another man helped count the compressions by singing the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.”
The report said the song matches the right tempo for compressions, 100 to 120 beats per minute. Kerns recalled that once it got to the four- or five-minute mark, everyone was super concerned. But then the paramedics arrived. As they carried Miller into the ambulance, Kerns said he thought Miller had passed away. “But the fireman said, ‘No, we got a pulse.'”
At the hospital, doctors put Miller into an induced coma to allow his body to heal from the trauma. Three days later when he awoke, he was told that his heart stopped while he was playing basketball. The doctors said they were still trying to find out why. It later turned out to be an electrical issue that caused a strange rhythm, the American Heart Association News reported. The report said that to protect Miller in case his heart should stop again, a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator was placed in his side. He was subsequently told he could return to his rec league.
But it was while in the hospital that Miller, a graduate of B.A. Communication Studies from Western Washington University, decided to do away with his 9-to-5 job and start building the life he had always wanted.
“I felt I had been letting fear get in the way of me becoming an entrepreneur and taking that risk,” Miller said. “I was afraid of being judged.”
In March 2020, he relaunched his own marketing company, All Approach. He had failed twice before. Today, the 27-year-old employs more than a dozen people as his digital marketing company continues to help transform how small businesses market themselves online.
But before becoming one of the most sought-after digital marketing consultants in Seattle, where he was born, Miller was known musically for composing music for popular TV shows on networks VH1, MTV, CBS, Telemundo, NBC, Bravo, HGTV, & Rete 4, his website says.
His most recognized track “I’m the Man” was featured on the official soundtrack in the major feature film “Almost Christmas”, which premiered in theaters worldwide on November 11, 2016, and was the number one comedy film at the box office. “Almost Christmas” grossed over $42 million in the U.S. Box Office, as stated by Black News.
And before launching All Approach, Miller provided digital marketing solutions as a 9/5 contractor for companies like Microsoft, Holland America Line, and Qumulo as well as schools including the University of Washington and Western Washington University. The songwriter, entrepreneur and marketing consultant now mentors young people in his community and beyond on the need to pursue their dreams no matter the size of their setbacks.
“That was my way of finding fulfillment as well, because I feel like the biggest blessing out of all of this was just to be able to truly live my authentic life and be myself instead of living in fear and not doing what I want with my life,” he said.
