David Connell, the Cobb Chamber CEO who collapsed and went into convulsions Wednesday afternoon while presiding over a meeting, has been released from the hospital and is doing fine.
Connell is well enough that he and his wife, Pam, are going to Nashville Thursday as planned to visit their daughter. Connell got home from WellStar Kennestone Hospital about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
"Doctors said it was most likely brought on by dehydration," his executive assistant, Melissa Crook, told the AJC. "He did require six stitches for his tongue, but that's about all. He will be fine with a little rest and should be back to work next week ...
"He really appreciates everyone's prayers and well wishes and, ever the Chamber exec, he was happy to support and patronize Chairman's Club members Metro Ambulance and WellStar."
Connell, 59, who was leading a meeting of the Marietta Redevelopment Corporation, clutched at his chest when the talk turned to how to attract east Cobb residents to Marietta, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.
"At first we thought it was a joke about him making light of the comment since he's from east Cobb," Marietta City Councilman Grif Chalfant told the newspaper. "He sort of reached for his heart like we had stabbed him in the chest, and then you realized it was a serious health situation when he rolled over on the floor and everything changed."
Connell started convulsing, and "blood started running out of his mouth," Chalfant added. "I guess he was biting his tongue."
Tony Britton, chairman-elect for the Cobb Chamber, told the paper: "David and [his wife] Pam and their family certainly are in our prayers."
Britton noted that Connell fainted and hit his head while working in his yard in near 100-degree heat last summer. He spent two days at Kennestone after that fall.
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