February 16 was a normal day for high school student José Agredano, who was in the middle of an intense soccer game.
Suddenly, the 16-year-old was hit in the chest with the ball and collapsed to the ground. Immediately, he knew something was wrong.
"I took two steps and lost my balance. My vision went, and I started spinning,” he said. “I kneeled down and put my hands on the ground, and the next thing I remember, I was being put into an ambulance.”
But before the ambulance arrived, mum Gina - who was on the sidelines - had intervened to save her son's life with vital CPR.
Gina and her husband ran to Jose's aid, suspecting a head injury at first. Gina, who is a doctor, noticed her son's breathing was becoming laboured, and called the coach to get a defibrillator.
To her horror, as she waited, she saw José's lips turn blue, and he stopped breathing.
She frantically gave her son chest compressions for about three minutes until the emergency services arrived. They took over with the defibrillator and managed to revive the young man.
José was very groggy but knew his name and where he was. He was taken to hospital, where doctors assessed him and concluded he'd probably suffered a commotio cordis — cardiac arrest caused by a blunt impact to the chest.
Gina said: “My being a doctor, my training, that wasn’t what saved him."
“Knowing the signs that call for administering CPR - which is accessible to anyone - is what saved his life.”
José's follow-up tests were fine, and he was released from hospital two days later.
“I’ll never take anything for granted again,” the young man said.
“The last thing I saw before lost consciousness was my parents’ faces. I know how lucky I am."
It's a timely reminder to all parents to learn CPR - you never know when a crisis could occur.
