Hunter Cairns plays high school baseball in Los Alamitos.
Hunter Cairns the Survivor
Last July, Cairns was at bat and attempting to bunt, but the pitch came in low and fast, smacking him hard in the chest.
Cairns’ grandfather, Jack Lee, retired from the Long Beach Fire Department, his grandfather’s friend, Steve Roberts, an active duty fireman with the LBFD, and his dad, Jason, were watching from the third base line and knew it was a wallop.
Cairns ran about 50 feet toward first base and collapsed face down in the dirt.
When the first base coach turned Cairns onto his back, he took one look at Cairns’ face and shouted for someone to call 911.
Lee and Roberts rushed to Cairns. They ripped open his shirt to look for broken ribs, but saw none. Lee started chest compressions while Roberts performed rescue breaths.
When paramedics arrived, they told the men to continue performing CPR while they began defibrillation.
After the first shock, Cairns started breathing on his own. He was taken to a hospital, where he regained consciousness 17 hours later.
