First Aid Corps

A seventh-grade Azle boy is in good condition less than 24 hours after he collapsed and stopped breathing during a junior high football game Tuesday evening at Azle Junior High School.

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The boy, whose name has not been released, was on the field when he suddenly collapsed, coach Tim Spoonemore said. Unaware of how severe the boy’s injury may be, Spoonemore and coach Brad Averitte rushed on to the field and turned the boy over with Averitte bracing the athlete’s neck.

Adults Honored for Saving Collapsed Azle 7th Grader: MyFoxDFW.com

The coaches quickly realized the boy was unresponsive and had no pulse. While Spoonemore began performing CPR, Averitte continued to brace the boy’s neck while talking to him, comforting him and trying to get him to respond. After a short time, a parent stepped in and took over CPR while Spoonemore left to get one of two automated external defibrillators.

Rita White, a nurse with the district who happened to be watching the game from the stands, said she ran onto the field to help when she saw that the coaches had started CPR. A short time later assistant principal Brian Roberts arrived with the first AED. White, who trains district employees to use the device, then used the device on the player — and he began to breathe.

“I saw his stomach start moving, and that was just the greatest thing,” Spoonemore said during a news conference Wednesday. “When I saw him … getting in the ambulance and he was breathing, that just made my heart jump out of my body almost.”

The player was eventually rushed by helicopter to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, where he remains Wednesday.

The boy’s family has decided not to speak publicly, but did say Wednesday morning that their son is in good condition and that everyone involved in saving their son’s life is a hero.

“It was a team effort. Everyone was here. Everyone had a very important part. No one person is a hero,” said White.

“Going over the scenario again and reliving what everybody in the community from the coaches, to the nurses, to the parents, to the administration, everything that they’ve done has really made today a fantastic day. A young man has life, a father has a son, a mother has a son and it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Averitte.

Azle superintendent Ray Lea arrived at Azle Junior High School minutes after it happened Tuesday and said the entire experience was surreal and that he is the world’s biggest fan of having AEDs on campus.

“Everybody there was in tears and just really shocked. This is just unheard of at a junior high school football game. It was surreal,” Lea said. “I couldn’t be any more proud of my staff to perform the way they did and rescue this young man. I don’t think the young man would be here without the AED.”

Last Friday night was the first game of the season for the American Falls Beavers. The team won, and wide receiver 17-year-old Ross Palmer was even in a featured picture in the sports section of the Idaho State Journal.

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“He also plays basketball and baseball. So he’s very active and he’s kin of accelerated at anything sports related,” said Kyle Cook, Ross’s uncle. Ross’s football coach, Kyle Patterson, added, “He’s a three-way player at this school. He’s a phenomenal athlete.”

On Monday the team had a hard practice. Tuesday’s practice was focused more on teaching the kids. By the end of practice instead of being gathered around one of the coaches, the football players would be gathered around one of their own, praying.

Ross and other teammates were doing some light conditioning. He ran up a small hill onto another field. It was then that he called a teammate’s name and then collapsed to the field.

Ross Palmer the Survivor

“We immediately called 911. I got to him. I checked for a pulse and to see if he was breathing and we had neither,” said Coach Patterson.

A heart that had helped Ross excel in sports had simply stopped. Coaches quickly and calmly started doing what they had been trained to do. They took turns doing chest compressions while checking for breathing and a pulse. Coach Patterson had also sent someone to get the Automated External Defibrillator from the school cafeteria.

“You open it up. You take the pads out. You put them on him and turn it on….You push the red button and he jumps a couple inches off the ground. It was really scary. But immediately we got a pulse and he started breathing on his own,” remember Patterson.

Palmer’s uncle underscored the importance of the AED saying, “If it had been 10 years or so ago when even I was playing sports I wouldn’t have been able to make it because they didn’t have that equipment there.”

Coach Patterson is humble in accepting congratulations for being able to be calm and handle the situation. He says it was a group effort and he’s glad they had the AED on campus. “Grateful for the training, yeah, but it’s the machine that did the work. Whoever invented that machine needs a pat on the back and if I ever meet the guy I’ll shake his hand and tell him, ‘Thank You!’ because of him we have Ross Palmer.”

Ross was taken to the American Falls Hospital. He then was transferred to Portneuf Medical Center. By that time he was conscious and giving a thumbs up to everyone who cared about him. And now, Coach Patterson has a new message for Ross, his team and anyone else listening.

“Yeah, he may never play football again…But there’s a lot more important things, a lot better things to come in his life because of the different group effort of the people in this school and this school district.”

Ross had surgery Friday in Salt Lake City so doctors could put a defibrillator in his chest to start his heart if it ever stops again.

Thursday afternoon, Breaux Bridge’s Tedrick Lewis had an angel watching over him.

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That angel materialized in the form of the Breaux Bridge coaching staff, which launched into lifesaver mode when the freshman football player was found face-down on the sideline.

Lewis had just come off the field during the Tigers’ spring football scrimmage, grabbed a gulp of water, and took a knee to watch his teammates.

Moments later, Lewis was sprawled out on the ground, his face buried in the grass.

Instinct and training immediately took over for Breaux Bridge head coach Paul Broussard and his staff.

“When we turned him over, we knew that something was wrong,” Broussard said. “We have an emergency plan in place and we’ve been practicing it with our school nurses.

“Each coach is responsible for a certain thing. We had just practiced it with our school nurses right around the Easter holidays. Everybody put the plan in place and thank goodness we had that machine.”

Broussard and assistant coach Kevin Bonhomme began CPR, while coach John Muder raced to the gym to get the AED (automated external defibrillator) machine.

Assistant coaches Brent Angelle and Rickey Poulan ushered the remaining players into the gym.

When Muder arrived with the AED machine, he took over the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as Broussard and Bonhomme began to use the defibrillator.

“People have asked me what was going through my mind, and honestly, you don’t think, you just react,” Bonhomme said. “There was no thinking. That’s where the routine and the training just kicks in.”

The coaches were able to revive Lewis, and he was conscious when Acadian Ambulance arrived on the scene moments later.

“We had lost him a couple of times, but by the time (Acadian Ambulance and Air Med) got there, he was conscious again,” Broussard said.

Lewis was air-lifted to the hospital, while the coaches followed in their vehicles. Bonhomme said it wasn’t until that moment that he was able to catch his breath and realize the magnitude of the situation.

“Adrenaline kind of takes over,” Bonhomme said. “Later on, when I was going to the hospital, I started thinking about it again and I got scared. At the time, you just react.

“On the ride to the hospital, I called my parents and my sister just to hear their voice and make sure they were OK.”

Lewis is doing well and could be released from the hospital as early as Tuesday. Thankfully, he doesn’t remember anything.

“I spoke to him Saturday and again (Monday),” Broussard said. “They will put a heart monitor on him. I think they found out what the problem was; it’s some kind of heart condition that went undetected.

“He doesn’t remember anything. At the hospital that night, I was asking him about it, and he still doesn’t remember what happened. He said pretty much the last thing he remembered was coming off the field.”

Broussard said the fact that Breaux Bridge had a plan in place, as well as rehearsed that plan a few times, definitely helped save Lewis’ life.

“I’m glad we had the emergency plan in place and I’m glad our nurses and principals kept on us to practice the plan,” Broussard said. “It was amazing. We didn’t panic. We just went into the plan and did what we were trained to do. A lot of the things, I don’t even remember what happened.

“I’m glad we were trained and I’m glad we were prepared. I’m glad the end result came out like it did. Our school nurses and principals did a good job of preparing us for this type of situation.”

Part of the training was to simulate an incident during practice. It’s one of those things that coaches might do reluctantly, but Broussard says it was definitely worth the time to practice the plan.

“There’s really never a good time to practice it, but I’m glad we did it,” Broussard said.

“We took the whole football team out there one day and did a mock run and put us on a clock and timed us. That was right around the Easter holidays, so it was still fresh in our mind.

“On the way to the hospital, one of the coaches said ‘Thank goodness we just had that mock drill.’ We were prepared and knew exactly what we had to do. Our nurses and principals were persistent in getting us to know what to do and thank goodness for that.”

It was a regular Monday evening for the 30-year-old teacher. A Junior C footballer with the club, he was 30 minutes into the five-a-side session when he collapsed, hit the floor and banged his head.

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Seaghan went into cardiac arrest and his heart stopped working properly.

Seaghan Kearney the Survivor

The experts say there is a four-minute window for revival from the time a person collapses in this way. Luckily, those around him were quick to react. They called Terry O’Brien, another member who was doing a volunteer stint behind the bar at the time.

Terry is a fireman, so he was able to take control of the situation. He put Kearney in the recovery position and got to work. Initially they thought he had swallowed his tongue, but as his pulse started to fade it became apparent that it was much more serious.

O’Brien sent another teammate to fetch the defibrillator, urgently. When Tyrone footballer Cormac McAnallen passed away in 2004, local pharmacist David King generously donated the device, but the club had failed to service it since and the batteries were out of date. By pure good fortune, there was enough power left for two blasts, just enough to revive Kearney and to keep him alive until the ambulance arrived.

“I was lucky that there was enough energy in it to revive me because clinically I was dead. In a way I was in the right place at the right time. A lot of events conspired to save me,” revealed Seaghan

“The fact that it happened in a club where there was a defibrillator; the fact that Terry was there and he is a fireman and also there was just enough power in the defibrillator to save me, it was just pure luck.”

When Kearney made it to the hospital, he was admitted to intensive care. The doctors were worried about brain damage because of a lack of oxygen but the only side-effect Kearney suffered was short-term memory loss.

“My memory was a bit dodgy for a while, they said that it could have taken two years to come back but it started to right itself quickly. I just kept asking people did Ireland really draw with Slovakia.”

When he regained some strength, the doctors inserted an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) under his arm. It’s an internal defibrillator so if it ever happens again it will fire and kick-start his heart.

Kearney, named Plunketts’ Junior C player of the year at the club’s recent dinner dance, was in hospital for two and a half weeks, and his recovery was helped by the support he received from his friends, family and members of the GAA community.

“I couldn’t believe the number of cards and texts I received from people. It was overwhelming. Clubmates, including Alan and Bernard Brogan, were among those who came to visit me in hospital. It all helped.

“Even still I meet a lot of people when I’m out walking who ask how I am. They are all interested in how I’m doing and it’s out of genuine concern. I’m a good news story for people and it makes a change from everything else that’s going on in their worlds.”

As a result of what happened, Kearney had to give up competitive sport — he can exercise but has to stay within certain parameters. There is a less than four per cent chance of it happening again but he has to be sensible about things. The odds are in his favour but if anything does happen he has a back-up plan with the ICD.

Not long after Kearney was discharged from hospital, he went to see Bridget McAnallen, Cormac’s mother. He thanked her for the efforts that her family made in raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death; what they did helped save his life.

“A lot of clubs have defibrillators; they got them after Cormac passed away. I know of other clubs close to us that have them locked away in offices and safes. It’s not much benefit keeping them some place where no one can get at them.”

While recovering Kearney decided to do some work in raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death. He is part of a team who have come up with a campaign centred on the acronym ‘ACT’. ‘A’ is to ensure that the defibrillator is accessible, ‘C’ is to make sure it is charged and ‘T’ is so that people are trained how to use it.

Student trainers are usually worried about the players on the field. But last week several Lafayette teens came to the rescue of someone unexpected. A referee at a football game Wednesday night collapsed on the side lines, and the LHS student trainers immediately sprang into action.

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“We teach them CPR, we teach them how to use the AED, we teach them basic life support,” said Jennifer Morrow, Co-Director of the LHS Medical Careers Academy.

Morrow was there the night Kenny Henry suffered from a heart attack and cardiac arrest while officiating a game. She says she couldn’t be more proud of the high school girls who put their skills and training into action.

“It was very scary but we were going to do everything we could to help him to make sure he would survive,” said Kelci Lions, one of the student trainers.

Lions, along with Kennen Granger, Natalie White and Claire Black immediately followed their emergency action plan by calling an ambulance, blocking off and clearing the scene and getting the Automatic External Defibrillator, or AED.

“It’s analyzing it and telling you if the heart rate is good or not, and whether or not that person needs to be shocked. And if it does then everybody stands back and it shocks the person and it revives them,” explained Lions.

Henry’s heart had to be shocked twice to revive him. He was then rushed to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. It was the girls’ teamwork that got him to the hospital in time.

“They knew exactly what to do, they got it all done I didn’t even have to tell them a thing, they just jumped into action,” said LHS Certified Trainer Aimee Gros.

And their quick thinking is the reason Henry is alive today.

“It puts things in perspective. We don’t just give people water, bad things can happen and we have to be there,” said student Claire Black.