Teen athlete saved by automatic defibrillator

Teen athlete saved by automatic defibrillator

A summer basketball game for a high school hoops star nearly turned deadly. Xhosa Fray-Chinn, 17,  collapsed on the court of Avalon Middle School, suffering from cardiac arrest.

"I was talking to one of the moms beside me, and I look over and kind of tilt my head," remembers Xhosa's mother Karen. "And it's like, ‘Who is that on the floor?' And I realize it was him, just lying on the floor, and it's the start of every parent's nightmare."

Xhosa's father began performing CPR immediately, while someone in the crowd ran to grab the middle school's automated external defibrillator (AED). That defibrillator saved the teenager's life, says Florida Hospital pediatric cardiologist Dr. Agustin Ramos, "The key to success is the timing. When somebody has a cardiac arrest every minute that passes without help... the mortality, the likelihood of dying, increases by 10 percent. So, it only takes 10 minutes to lose the battle."

Xhosa's family also credits Saving Young Hearts for donating the AED to Avalon Middle years before this emergency. Saving Young Hearts aims to place a defibrillator in every elementary and middle school in Central Florida.

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On the web: www.savingyounghearts.org