In California, Kathy Herrera recovering after surviving near fatal ailment

Kathy Herrera doesn’t scare easily.

That goes to show how harrowing the past few weeks have been for the former La Conner schools administrator who survived a recent near-death experience in California, where she is working on a charter campus after having taken a leave of absence here last spring.

A kidney donor who is no stranger to pressure, from her days as a competitive athlete to juggling multiple school duties in her career, Herrera isn’t one to fret.

But today, while recovering from an episode last month where she collapsed suddenly, stopped breathing and briefly had no pulse, Herrera...