Suddenly, he became unresponsive and went into cardiac arrest, Wilder said. It is unclear what triggered the problem.

School nurses immediately rushed to the classroom where the party was taking place and began performing CPR on the boy, Wilder said.

They also used a defibrillator.

Three minutes later, emergency medical technicians arrived and found the boy was not breathing and had no pulse. Paramedics arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

Emergency workers managed to revive the child, but he was not breathing on his own when they transported him across the street to Tufts Medical Center, according to emergency officials.

“The school nurse really should be praised,” said Jennifer Mehigan, spokeswoman for Boston Emergency Medical Services. “Those quick actions are really what save someone’s life.”

He is still listed as in critical condition.

“We were playing games, and I decided I was going to ride a mechanical bull,” recalled Kyle. “I was on it, and I passed out. The next thing I remember is waking up at the hospital.”

Kyle’s mother, Lisa Bednar, was a chaperone at grad night.

“I was the first one on scene. We called for 911, and then there was a group of four of us that started CPR on Kyle, got the defibrillator and shocked him. We continued CPR until the ambulance actually showed up,” Lisa Bednar recalled.

Kyle Bednar the Survivor

A recent stress test that Kyle Bednar took showed he’s in healthy shape. Even though he experienced a close call, he says nothing’s really changed for him.

“It doesn’t even really feel like it ever happened. It’s kind of like life back to normal,” he said.

Kyle says he’s just a little more careful when he’s physically active. In the fall, he’ll be a freshman at North Dakota State University, majoring in mechanical engineering.

Both Ward and Bednar mothers say they have a new mission—making sure every high school is equipped with a defibrillator and people who know how to use them.