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The student was taking part of a P.E. class outside at East Meadows Elementary School when he suddenly collapsed. But a two-minute response and life-saving training got his heart back in rhythm.
Logan Powell the Survivor
The boy is recovering at Primary Children’s Medical Center following the heroic efforts of those who first noticed him. His doctors say he’s still in critical condition, but his heart is beating on its own and he’s breathing on his own. He remains on oxygen as a precaution.
“Our main concern is for the student and their family,” said Nebo School District spokeswoman Lana Hiskey.
Friends were playing together when the young boy collapsed. One of the boy’s friends told the playground supervisor, who discovered the boy was not breathing and had no pulse.
“Our adult personnel moved quickly, called 911, and the emergency response vehicle got here very quickly,” Hiskey described. “(They) promptly took the student to a medical facility.”
The police got there in two minutes and tried to revive the boy with CPR, but only got a couple of breaths out of the boy. That’s when they used an Automated External Defibrillator to shock his heart back into action.
The boy was taken to the Payson Hospital before being airlifted to Primary Children’s Medical Center. Doctors still don’t know what made the boy go into cardiac arrest.
“Luckily, a lot of the students were in class,” Hiskey said.
The school sent a note home with all of the students to let parents know about the incident. It concludes by saying, “We are proud of the trained school staff that responded so well to the emergency.”
The boy’s aunt said the family is grateful to the P.E. teacher, the secretary and the Spanish Fork Polic Officer that saved the boy’s life.
The Nebo School District was already in the process of putting defibrillators in its schools before the Thursday’s event.
“We think it’s important to get those in every one of our schools,” Hiskey said.
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The little girl and her family had traveled from Las Vegas to visit their grandparents’ home in the 2600 block of South Athena, said Capt. Forrest Smith, a Mesa Fire Department spokesman.
The toddler somehow got into the pool, and for a few moments, the family didn’t know where she was. The mother spotted her on the pool’s surface and pulled her out. Her son began performing CPR on his sister, Smith said.
“He said he learned it from watching TV,” Smith said.
The boy saved his sister’s life, Smith said.
Neighbors said they heard screaming after the child was pulled from the pool and gathered to try to help. One of the neighbors, Kassie Ketring, 23, is a certified lifeguard. She said the child was breathing by the time she arrived in the yard.
“I got down on the child’s level and checked the airway, checked the breathing,” Ketring said. “I noticed she was breathing, so I just kept the airway open. I kept hearing the other child (the brother) saying, ‘You can’t die on me.’ It just sticks in my head, hearing that.”
On the way to the hospital, the toddler “started regaining her ability to breathe and started to cry,” Smith said.
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“In the back of my mind I am thinking that he is going to die and there is nothing I can do about it,” said Blake’s father Jeff Braafhart.
Luckily, Blake’s mother Kristi Braafhart is a nurse at Methodist West Hospital. She had given CPR before, but never to a child, and certainly never her own child.
“He said, ‘You know, mommy and daddy, I can’t breathe.’ So I told Jeff to take him outside. I learned a long time ago with croup, you take them outside into the cold air,” Kristi said.
Jeff explained what happened after that. “I got into the kitchen and right away he started to turn blue. Right away the skin color was going out of him,” Jeff said.
“His heart had stopped and everything,” Kristi said. Jeff told Kristi she should perform CPR on Blake.
“After that I remember checking for a pulse and he didn’t have a pulse, so I started compressions,” Kristi said. “I did about five cycles of compressions and breaths and then he finally took a breath so at that point it was just amazing. Honestly I didn’t think I would bring him back. So I was kind of shocked, and when he took that breath that was the most amazing thing I have ever heard: hearing him take that breath.”
“My mommy is the coolest mommy in the whole world,” Blake said Wednesday afternoon.
The Braafharts would find out later through a series of tests that Blake has a smaller-than-normal airway. And, at the time, Blake had the H1N1 flu virus. It all combined for a very scary night.
“We hope we can teach some parents and others the importance of learning CPR because you never know when you are going to need it,” said Kristi.
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Brookhollow Kindergarten student Matthew Gates was at an after school program when he went into cardiac arrest.
“He’s a very rambunctious kid. He’s a six-year-old who likes to run and play,” Matthew’s father Mike Gates said.
Matthew’s grin hides a lifelong struggle against a rare heart disease known as Left Ventricular Non Compaction Cardiomyopathy.
Matthew’s family discovered the heart complication the day before his second birthday when he stopped breathing and collapsed. However, at that time he regained consciousness without the help of an AED or CPR.
Doctors told his parents he would not have issues until he was a teenager, but Matthew again collapsed last week at Brookhollow Elementary School in Pflugerville and stopped breathing.
After school teachers quickly administered CPR and used an AED to deliver a shock.
“His life was saved by an AED,” Mike Gates said.
Friday morning Austin-Travis County EMS demonstrated how an AED, or automated external defibrillator, can save lives.
Once the device is turned on it gives verbal instructions including placing pads on the front and back of the patient. The AED will then search for a pulse, and if there is none it gives a shock to the victim’s heart to restore its rhythm.
“It’s for anyone to use. Anyone can pull it off the wall, and use it if needed,” said CPR coordinator for Austin-Travis County EMS John Villanueva.
AEDs are available in public places including malls, airports, and city buildings.
In 2007, the Texas Legislature mandated that every school campus and UIL competition have an AED device readily available. Schools were supposed to comply by September 2008.
In 2006, an AED saved the life of Westlake football standout Matt Nader when his heart stopped during a game.
“Ninety-nine out of 100 people this happens to, they die. I am that one percent,” Nader said in September 2009.
Matthew also beat the odds, and is now recovering at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.
This week doctors planted a small defibrillator in his chest that will monitor his heartbeat.
Now Matthew’s family is thankful that he survived thanks to the quick action of after school teachers and the help of an AED.
“The doctors call it miraculous he was himself the next day. A lot of the kids don’t make it,” Mike Gates said.
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Edgar Aviles the Survivor
When his trainer, Oscar Carranza, called the young boy to begin the workout session, Aviles stood up and immediately fell to the ground onto his stomach.
“It happened so fast, he didn’t even get to close his water bottle. Edgar was not breathing, there was no pulse and he was starting to turn blue,” Carranza said.
At that point, Jordan Ramirez, a sales rep at the gym who received his CPR certification last Thursday, ran to the boy after Carranza called for his help.
“I didn’t feel a pulse, so I told Oscar we had to conduct CPR,” Ramirez said. “You could tell when Edgar was coming back to life, you could see him come in and out.”
Within three minutes, EMTs arrived on the scene and immediately used a defibrillator that brought the boy back to life.
He was then transported to Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, where doctors stabilized his condition.
The next day, Edgar was transferred to University Medical Center of El Paso, where he was diagnosed with arrhythmic heart failure and an enlarged heart.
Elizabeth Aviles was at the gym during her son’s near-death encounter. She said she last talked to Edgar when he came to ask for a water bottle and went back to his workout. She was at another part of the facility when her son collapsed and did not witness the quick response by the two World Gym employees.
“I really thought I was going to lose my son,” Aviles said. “If it wasn’t for Oscar and Jordan my son wouldn’t be alive.”
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Gym teacher Ken Haines said, “The class was doing a mile timed run. He was up toward the front and he was running strong, completed one lap, he was running around and right in this area right here, I saw him collapse down on all fours, seconds later he was just totally unresponsive.”
He was talking about seventh grader Travis Arnold. He radioed nursing assistant Tressa Palmer immediately, and sent students to get help.
“Two girls from the middle school came running and said that they needed me on the track, that a student was down,” said Palmer.
Two other staff members got the school’s defibrillator, or A.E.D. as she ran to the track. “I went over to Mr. Haines, he told me to try and see if I could find a pulse. I could not, Travis was still unconscious,” said Palmer.
Haines said, “She got the AED got right out here, I continued CPR while she hooked him up to the AED and shocked him and she started chest compressions and I was doing the breaths.”
His father, David Arnold remembers the call from the school secretary. “‘The word defibrillator was used’, and I said you only use a defibrillator on someone’s whose heart stopped. And she said Mr. Arnold you need to get to the hospital right now.”
What happened to the him was later called a sudden death episode. His parents say if the stars we not aligned that day, it all would be different. It seems everyone was in the right place at the right time.
A month later, Travis was back to school, and now, he’s just about back to doing all the things he used to do. “Yeah, 99 percent,” said Travis. He’s a man of few words, and thanks his favorite teacher. Dad is thankful he’s here to do it. “Like that day, I was just thankful I got to hug my son again.”
As the staff members and EMTs were honored, the gym teacher that saved his life said, “Travis, thanks for pulling through buddy, I appreciate that, and so does everyone else here”
Ironically, that gym teacher Ken Haines, collapsed in high school during a soccer game, was taken to the same hospital, and saved by a defibrillator.
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St. Charles County Deputy Ron Neupert, 50, the school’s resource officer, raced to the gym and found Austin unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse. Neupert started CPR and radioed for an ambulance.
The school’s nurse, Lynne Finnerty, shocked Austin’s heart once with the school’s automatic external defibrillator.
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Shortly after, Austin regained consciousness.
“It seemed like forever, but within a few seconds, he began to breathe on his own and you could see he was coming around,” Neupert said.
Austin is expected to recover.
Marty Limpert, a spokesman for the St. Charles County Ambulance District, said the incident illustrates the need for AEDs in schools and staff trained in life-saving procedures.
“There’s no doubt that they saved his life,” Limpert said.
“It’s awesome,” Neupert said of Austin’s recovery. “These kids are my kids, and I care about every single one of them.”
Francis Howell Middle School Principal Amy Johnston said that Thursday was the first time the school has used its AED since it was installed about eight years ago.
And “hopefully the last,” she said.
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Siddens, the nurse for the school district, was returning to her office March 25 when a student came running up, telling her 12-year-old Ashton Norwell was screaming in the gymnasium.
Norwell was being led to Siddens’ office because he felt sick when he began to cry out in pain. But by the time Siddens — who was only seconds from the gymnasium — arrived, the boy was unresponsive and not breathing.
From there, Siddens went into action, moving the boy to the gym floor with the help of a gym teacher while Principal Rusty Campbell called 911. Another gym teacher stepped into the hallway to retrieve an automated external defibrillator hanging on the wall.
“I was looking at (the scene) saying ‘This is not happening here,’” said Siddens, a part-time emergency room nurse at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center. “From there it was just gut reaction.”
Siddens said she used the defibrillator immediately and then began CPR. She repeated the process, but was getting no response from Ashton, who had turned blue.
“I was scared the entire time, but from the second shock on I was saying ‘C’mon, buddy. C’mon, Ashton,’” Siddens recounted.
Suddenly, following the third shock from the defibrillator, Ashton drew a quick gasp of air.
Oxygen provided by Bismarck Community Ambulance helped bring him around and by the time Medix Ambulance personnel arrived, the lifeless boy was cracking jokes at his school nurse.
“There’s never been a better sound in my life than hearing him talk to me,” she said. “It was just fantastic.”
It may have only been a few minutes, but the scene was emotionally draining for Siddens.
“I’m fine during the emergency, I can handle myself well during the emergency,” she said. “But immediately after the emergency, not so well. Lots of people held me up after that.”
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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.
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Thomas and another student were racing up the school’s front drive about 4:10 p.m during the first day of track practice, when Thomas fell to the pavement.
Eisenhower Middle School Principal Jill Davis, the first to respond, began CPR after she determined that Thomas wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.
Physical education teacher Becky Smith retrieved an automated external defibrillator from the school. Math teacher Dan Schroeder connected Thomas to the AED and administered shock treatments, while Smith and Assistant Principal Christine Riemer assisted Davis with CPR.
Math teacher Dan Schroeder says that voice from the school defibrillator helped him and several others save their student.
“I checked for a pulse and could not find one and then I saw the compression’s were being done from the other teachers.”
P.E. teacher Becky Smith ran the defibrillator outside as other staff members applied CPR and waited for an ambulance.
“I’m thankful that we were all there and that we could help this young man and that he’s doing well.”
“It’s an amazing feeling to know that I helped save someone’s life, especially a young student,” says Ty-Ray’s track coach Chana Hinkston.
Paramedics were able to re-establish a heart rhythm with Thomas in the ambulance en route to the hospital.
Ty-Ray is currently recovering at Rockford Memorial Hospital.
Ty-Ray’s dad, Steve Thomas, says the family didn’t know his son had a heart condition before he collapsed on Wednesday. But now he’s on the road to recovery.
My other son is up there got him doing leg exercises right now, so we can get him stronger, he’s standing, sitting on a chair right now , it’s a blessing.”
“If they didn’t go through that training there’s no telling what would have happened, if they weren’t there at the right time, he’d be lost, I mean he would have been gone.”
Update 16th May 2009
“I’m just thankful to be here,” Ty-Ray said Thursday.
He and his mom, Marlo Thomas, agree that Ty-Ray is a lucky kid.
“God put everybody in the place they were supposed to be,” Marlo said. “Because if they weren’t, who knows what would have happened. It wasn’t his time yet.”
He still might play basketball in the future, but for now he’s taking things slow.
“I’m just thankful to be here and thankful that God touched me,” he said.
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