First Aid Corps

Drew Brantley, 17, a school soccer and baseball star, was playing basketball with classmates last week when he collapsed and appeared to have a seizure.

Drew Brantley the Survivor

But nurse Brenda Strunk said she quickly realized it was much more severe.

“When we got to him, we were trying to find pulse on him. We couldn’t find a pulse,” she said.

Strunk grabbed an Automated External Defibrillator located outside the school’s gym and used it to bring the boy back from full cardiac arrest.

Brantley spent five days in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where doctors said he had a heart condition that had gone undetected.

Now he is back home and thanking the people, and the machine, that helped save his life.

“I couldn’t tell you where one of (the AEDs) is in the school, although I guess I will now,” he said. “I’m just so happy that everybody knew how to use it, and everybody got there on time.”

“Only because of that device and the people at school is our son still alive” said Ron Brantley. “Make sure you get them. Even if you don’t have to use them, it’s a security blanket.”

About 8:15 a.m. on 4th February, moments after talking with Homestead High School senior Abishek Chintapalli, biology teacher Bekki Vail heard him fall to the floor.

Abishek Chintapalli the Survivor

She ran to see what had happened and found him unconscious, but making irregular gasps for air, known as agonal breathing.

Two students rushed to the clinic and alerted school nurse Maria Lund, who ran to the room and started giving Chintapalli chest compressions in front of a crowd of students.

Time seemed to slip away as Lund kept pushing, unable to get Chintapalli to begin breathing.

“I could see his color was getting bad,” Lund said.

Nurse Beth Quigley was the second responder to arrive. She worked with Lund, giving Chintapalli mouth-to-mouth to no avail.

Vail called 911, and Lund radioed for an automated external defibrillator.

A custodian heard the call, grabbed the device near the clinic and ran upstairs to give it to Lund.

By that time, Assistant Principal Steve Lake had arrived on the scene. He never had felt so helpless, he said, as he watched Lund put the defibrillator on Chintapalli’s chest.

Chintapalli’s heart wasn’t beating, and the defibrillator gave directions to shock. Lund did so, twice, establishing a heartbeat.

More staff members arrived to help carry Chintapalli down the stairs; others contacted his mother.

By the time an ambulance pulled away, at least 20 Southwest Allen County Schools employees had played some role in the emergency response.

“You were there when Chintapalli needed him, and you did everything in a very timely manner,” Chintapalli’s mother, Lakshmi said. “Abi is alive because of you.”

Chintapalli said he was touched by the support he received in the hospital and was happy to be back in school.

“I lost 8 to 10 pounds when I was in the hospital,” he said. “But I think I gained it all back yesterday. We had lots of parties, lots of food.”

On Jan. 16, David Feinstein was walking out of Southwest Rec Center on the UF campus in Gainesville when he heard cries for help.

Cook, a building construction professor who has done consulting work for Pulte Homes in Volusia County, had suffered a heart attack.

He had been playing racquetball with one of his students, 24-year-old Brando Fetzek, and a couple other friends when he told them he felt winded, needed to take a break, and would catch them on the next game.

“We finished the game in about five minutes, and as I walked out I saw him laying there,” said Fetzek, a Bradenton resident. “I called out for somebody to call an ambulance and that’s when David and his buddy came running over. David started to perform CPR.”

Several other students joined in, calling 911, alerting Southwest Rec staff to the emergency and helping with the CPR.

They set up a nearby AED — automated external defibrillator — which is used to shock a non-beating heart into starting again.

“We put it on him and we shocked him and we got a pulse, but it wasn’t a very strong one,” Feinstein said. “He took a big gasp of air, but then he wasn’t breathing on his own, so we kept doing CPR.”

Paramedics transported Cook to the hospital where he stayed for five days. Since then, he has made a full recovery and has even returned to the classroom.

But it wouldn’t have happened without prompt action by the students. Reached by e-mail, Cook expressed appreciation for the help he received.

“I owe my life to Brando and David and three other students (Joey Murvis, Karina Reyner and Josh Rubin) who administered CPR and AED. I will be forever grateful to them,” Cook wrote.

Meanwhile, Feinstein’s parents, Larry and Candace of Ormond Beach, are understandably proud because for all his good grades and ambition, his latest accomplishment put everything in a new perspective.

“You want your kids to go out and do good. You couldn’t ask for anything better,” his mother said.

Bentonville junior baseball player, Wes Busby, 17, collapsed as the Tigers ran during a warmup for practice at Tiger Athletic Complex.

A teammate standing near Busby found a faint and erratic heartbeat.

Assistant baseball coach Curt Yarrington and athletic trainer Laura Wilson started CPR while baseball coach Todd Abbott called 911.

Emergency medical technicians arrived within five minutes and used a defibrillator to stabilize Busby’s heartbeat.

“I don’t think (the response) could have been any better,” Abbott said. “I think everybody kept a level head and did what they had to do and worked together. It is such a blessing that it happened that way.”

Busby was taken to Northwest Medical Center where he was kept stable and eventually taken to ACH by ambulance later that night.

After running several tests, doctors at ACH believe Wes Busby has Long QT Syndrome, a heart condition associated with ventricular arrhythmias.

He had surgery last week to place an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which will help the heart return to normal function if another arrhythmia should occur.

“A lot of things had to happen just right,” Murray Busby said. “If it would have been a situation where nobody knew what was going on, nobody knew what was happening and just stood there, he wouldn’t be with us today. I’m not going to try to sugarcoat it or anything, because there were a lot of good people there that took care of him until the EMTs got there and took over.”

Faith Sendelweck would just like to get back to a normal routine.

She goes back to Jasper Middle School on Monday; however, this once high-energy soccer player is forced to take it a little easier from now on.

Sendelweck says she does not remember much of what happened one Sunday earlier this month.

“All I remember is diving for a ball and throwing it back,” Sendelweck said. “That’s pretty much it.”

She was playing soccer in the gym of Jasper High School.

Sendelweck’s dad was with her and he remembers seeing her collapse into a curtain hanging from the gym ceiling.

Dr. Dean Beckman just happened to be playing basketball with his son there, too, and immediately ran to help.

“(She was) becoming a little bit lethargic, sat down, became unconscious and then lost her pulse,” Dr. Beckman said. “We started CPR.”

Turns out, Sendelweck had a congenital heart condition that no one knew about.

“The rhythm is messed up,” Sendelweck said. “You have a short bump and then a big bump and then another short bump. My short bump drags on too long before my next heart beat and messes it up.”

Sendelweck might not be here had it not been for a defibrillator in the gym.

“You could tell she was starting to respond because her color came back, her lips turned pink and she was moaning,” Dr. Beckman said.

Sendelweck now has her own defibrillator, an IED, implanted in her chest.

Sendelweck is going to be a spokesperson for pediatric IED’s at Kosair’s Children’s Hospital.

Ryan Smith, 18, suffered a heart attack while at a local handball court in December.

His best friend proceeded to call 9-1-1.

A man apparently saw the incident transpire and rushed over to perform CPR on Smith before three EMTs arrived.

“If it wouldn’t have been for that person and the police officers and the people from the ambulance, then he would have had brain damage,” said Smith’s father, Nelson Arroyo.

Now, both Smith and his father want thank this Good Samaritan.

“He just came, did what he did and disappeared. Whoever he was, he saved my life. Thank you for that,” said Smith.

EMTs needed a defibrillator to start Smith’s heart.

“I’m happy this kid was able to make it through because of these two people before us, and we just showed up and did our job. That’s all we did,” said Chris Leavitt, an EMT with Patriot Ambulance.

An emotional night Tuesday for the folks over at Parkview High School in Little Rock.

Sophomore Chris Winston collapsed during the game with Searcy.

Winston, #22, stopped breathing and they had to use a defibrillator to bring him back.

Winston was taken to the hospital where he began breathing on his own.

Early indications are he suffered a seizure, but Coach Al Flanigan says they’ll move Winston to Arkansas Children’s Hospital Wednesday to run more tests.

In a biology classroom last month, Manzano High School 14-year old freshman Nicholas Roldan almost lost his life.

“I don’t remember anything happening, at all. They said I said I feel weird, then I was out,” said Roldan.

“Two kids ran in and said there’s an emergency next door, we need you,” said Marianne Evans, teacher.

According to Evans, Roldan did not have a pulse an was not breathing. She said she performed CPR for about 15 minutes and there was still nothing.

“He would take a little breath and I’d think we had him, and I kept telling him breathe! Breathe! He just never took another breath after that,” said Evans.

At that time, another teacher rushed in with a defibrillator and shocked him.

“It’s a horrible thing to see. It’s nothing like on TV,” said Evans.

The paramedics finally showed up and was able to bring Roldan back.

“Right before they were going to leave the room, I heard them say, ‘He’s got a pulse,’” she said. “And all I said was, you know, ‘thank God.’”

“I remember just being in the hospital. I’m really grateful that everybody was there to help and that I’m fine now,” said Roldan.

Evans said that the defibrillation was a horrible thing to see but according to paramedics, without it the student would have died.

On Oct. 5, the Knights were about 15 minutes into a routine practice at Crestwood Baptist Church when 17-year-old Josh Howard fell to the floor.

OKC Knight coach Randy Graham, had his back to Howard at the time but was quickly by Josh’s side.

“I picked up his head and thought he was having a seizure,” Graham said. “His jaw was just clinched tight, and his arms were locked up near his chest.”

Graham worked to give Howard breaths while 911 was called. Most of Howard’s Knights teammates were on the floor almost immediately after Howard went down, praying for their fallen teammate.

Paramedics were at Howard’s side in less than 10 minutes.

Twice before leaving the gym, Howard received shocks from a defibrillator. He had to be shocked another time when he got to the hospital.

First, he was taken to St. Anthony’s. Doctors there determined the damage to his heart was too severe for them to treat, so once he was stabilized, he was moved to Children’s Hospital.

For three days, Howard remained in a coma. Graham walked into the hospital room at about 7:30 a.m. that morning. “Hey, Coach,” Howard said as he rolled over. If nothing else, Howard was awake and alert.

“There’s no other word to describe it other than grateful,” Graham said. “I’m so thankful, and I know that Jack and Debbie Howard, his parents, are as well.”

“On Oct. 5, I was hoping he would live. I had no hope that he would live. He was blue. I couldn’t even have dreamed of him being where he is right now. We call him our miracle.”

The 14-year-old male student was in full cardiac arrest on the basketball court in the Blanche Ely High School gymnasium when someone called 911, said fire rescue spokeswoman Sandra King.

Joseph Saintelus the Survivor

“I was playing basketball with my friends and all of sudden, I didn’t see, I don’t see anything. I have like a blackout,” said Joseph Saintelus.

An assistant coach was performing CPR while the caller told a dispatcher what was happening at the school, 1201 NW Sixth Ave.

“Mr. Brown actually called 911, and he started with the chest compressions, and I started with the breaths and we were implementing the CPR and Joseph started to breath again,” said Nurse Sheila O’Neil-Brown

When paramedics arrived, they took over with a defibrillator and were able to start the boy’s heart again, said King.

He was conscious when he was taken to Broward General Medical Center.

“Clearly there were some tense moments on that basketball court,” she said, crediting the assistant coach and a school nurse who assisted with saving the boy’s life.

Joseph’s mother is grateful for everyone who jumped into action to save her son.

“If they wasn’t there, then I may not have my son today, and I thank God for them and them laying their hands and the extra strength to keep pushing, and to get him back with a heart beat,” said Corleitha Henley.