Posted by Valarie Brehm on 10/15/2010 to
Lives Saved By AEDs
A 12-year-old child collapsed on the soccer field in Andover, Minnesota, and fell into full cardiac arrest. Coming to Tucker Manske's rescue was none other than his very own father, who saved his son's life with the help and aide of the nearby school's AED.
"I was walking across the field and I just collapsed," said Tucker.
"When I realized it was my son I just started sprinting down the field," said Todd Manske, Tucker's father. After performing CPR on Tucker, who was unresponsive, Todd yelled for someone to get the school's AED. Todd had never used an AED before, yet he knew it was needed after finding no heartbeat in Tucker for almost two minutes.
"We shocked him once, did CPR and then had to shock him a second time and that is when it started to sink in that my son was in cardiac arrest," said Todd. After the second shock was administered, Tucker's heartbeat came back to slow pace.
Tucker was then taken to Mercy Hospital by ambulance before being airlifted to Minneapolis Children's Hospital, where he's making a speedy recovery. Todd says that if the AED machine wasn't there his son wouldn't be alive today.
"He was brought back to life, really," said Todd.
This is a fantastic story and illustrates an important point – do all soccer and sports fields in your community feature AEDs? Chances are they don't, particularly if they're independent of a school. Coaches and members of the athletic community may very well have to take matters into their own hands, ensuring that an AED is always readily available for their sports functions, both on and off the home field.
Sudden cardiac arrest strikes without warning and regardless of age or health. Let's increase the preparedness of our communities and ensure that our loved ones, whether our own or those of others, do not have their lives cut short due to sudden cardiac arrest. Remember: when a sufferer of sudden cardiac arrest receives defibrillation through an AED within the first minute, the survival rate is a staggering 90%!
To read the full story, click here.
"I was walking across the field and I just collapsed," said Tucker.
"When I realized it was my son I just started sprinting down the field," said Todd Manske, Tucker's father. After performing CPR on Tucker, who was unresponsive, Todd yelled for someone to get the school's AED. Todd had never used an AED before, yet he knew it was needed after finding no heartbeat in Tucker for almost two minutes.
"We shocked him once, did CPR and then had to shock him a second time and that is when it started to sink in that my son was in cardiac arrest," said Todd. After the second shock was administered, Tucker's heartbeat came back to slow pace.
Tucker was then taken to Mercy Hospital by ambulance before being airlifted to Minneapolis Children's Hospital, where he's making a speedy recovery. Todd says that if the AED machine wasn't there his son wouldn't be alive today.
"He was brought back to life, really," said Todd.
This is a fantastic story and illustrates an important point – do all soccer and sports fields in your community feature AEDs? Chances are they don't, particularly if they're independent of a school. Coaches and members of the athletic community may very well have to take matters into their own hands, ensuring that an AED is always readily available for their sports functions, both on and off the home field.
Sudden cardiac arrest strikes without warning and regardless of age or health. Let's increase the preparedness of our communities and ensure that our loved ones, whether our own or those of others, do not have their lives cut short due to sudden cardiac arrest. Remember: when a sufferer of sudden cardiac arrest receives defibrillation through an AED within the first minute, the survival rate is a staggering 90%!
To read the full story, click here.