HS Football Player's Heart Stops After Game-Winning Touchdown
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Heyward Demison, Jr., watches the Oregon Ducks football game in his room at the pediatric unit at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010, after he suffered a serious heart attack while playing a football game. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Thomas Boyd)
Shortly after catching a pass for the winning touchdown, Central Catholic player Hayward Demison’s heart stopped last Friday.
The Oregonian reports that the 6-foot-1, 195-pound high school junior thought he was suffering from an asthma attack. He wasn’t. He was having a heart attack.
After people realized the gravity of the situation, a nurse rushed out from the stands to do chest compressions. After 60 compressions and two rescue breaths, Demison’s pulse came back.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Demison has been diagnosed with a heart defect, but his heart didn’t sustain damage after the cardiac arrest and he will under go surgery in two weeks. Doctors expect a full recovery.
Demison says he’s truly blessed and thankful to the nurse who saved his life.