On April 11, Lori Duchow, a pediatric nurse at Riverview Hospital in Wisconsin Rapids, was watching an adult basketball game during a tournament at Nekoosa High School with her two daughters when she saw a man collapse on the court.
Duchow rushed to his side, told people surrounding him she was a nurse and instructed them to call 911.
The man was breathing and had a pulse, but when Duchow checked a few minutes later, she could no longer feel the beat of his pulse.
She instructed someone to find an automatic external defibrillator, a device trained people can use to shock the heart back into action.
While she waited for the machine, Duchow started cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the unconscious man.
When someone brought the automated external defibrillator, Duchow used it and then continued CPR.
“The machine tells you what to do,” she said.
Duchow said while she worked on the man, she continued thinking she didn’t want him to die in front of 150 people, including children, in the gymnasium.
While she assisted the man, referees from the game worked to get the children into an adjoining room.
The man’s heart started beating again. When he awoke, he didn’t know what happened, Lori said. He wanted to get back up and start playing. Lori insisted he go to the hospital with the ambulance.
The next time Duchow saw the man in church, he and his wife thanked her for saving his life. The man gave Duchow a big hug.
“I cried,” she said.
