- Marlana Hodgins taught children CPR in the living room of her home.
- About two years later, her son Trevor performed CPR on a friend after he collapsed.
- Doctors say Trevor's actions likely saved his friend's life.
This essay is based on a conversation with Marlana Hodgins and her son Trevor. It has been edited for length and clarity.
About two years ago, a close family friend Pulmonary embolismThe disease causes blockages in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. He went into cardiac arrest and his wife performed CPR. My friend survived but suffered severe brain damage.
Despite the sad ending, the incident Important CPR Yes, it can be done. My husband, Steven, is a state trooper and a CPR instructor for his fellow troopers. After the incident with our friend, he brought home a CPR dummy and taught me and our three children how to perform CPR in our living room. I was CPR certified as a teenager, and my children, now 12, 14, and 16, were learning CPR for the first time.
My son Trevor soon Life-saving skills It's truly our home.
My son's wrestling teammate collapsed at our house.
My boys love wrestling. We have a home gym that we call “The Barn.” treadmillThe gym also has areas for weight training and wrestling, so it's not uncommon for kids from the high school wrestling team to drop by. On the morning of May 10, two of my son's wrestling buddies, Giovanni Scaffidi and JJ Macknick, a senior who is the team captain, were there.
“The boys headed down to the basement, but Trevor was still upstairs. I was in the kitchen when I heard the treadmill start up. About five minutes later, I heard a bang, followed by Giovanni yelling JJ's name. The way he said it told me something was wrong.
JJ has been wrestling with my oldest son since he was a little kid, so he Heart diseaseI called 911 before I got to the basement.
Trevor began CPR while I called 911.
Trevor came running downstairs from the room, and he and Giovanni tended to JJ, rolling him onto his back and removing his bulky clothing, while I spoke with the 911 operator, who repeatedly asked if JJ was breathing. At first he was, but the next time I asked, the boys stopped to listen to see if he was breathing but heard nothing.
That's when Trevor took action. He was just an eighth-grader, but he told J.J. Chest compressions” and told Giovanni when to give him artificial respiration. The boys continued CPR until paramedics arrived about five minutes later. Later, at the hospital, doctors and nurses said Trevor's effective CPR likely saved JJ's life.
The police tried to prepare me for the worst.
But at that point we didn't know if JJ was going to survive, so I immediately called his mother, Laura. I hung up on 911.I was on autopilot and told her that JJ had collapsed and that she needed to come to my house immediately, she was about 20 minutes away at work.
Trevor, Giovanni, and I went upstairs to make room for the paramedics to treat JJ. We later learned that they intubated him in the basement, continuing CPR all the while.
After a while, one of the officers came to talk to me. I think he was trying to get me ready. They were trying their best but JJ's heart was working against them. Even with the shocks from the AED, his heart would not continue beating.
Laura arrived just as JJ was being loaded into the ambulance, leaving my boys and I at home in shock and prayer while they headed to the hospital.
We visited JJ in the hospital on his 19th birthday.
Laura called me throughout the day to update me on the situation. I dreaded every call because the prognosis was not good. But there was hope because JJ could see. Dr. Matthew Martinezis a doctor who specializes in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the heart disease JJ suffers from.
Finally, two days after the accident, we started to receive good news: JJ was still on life support, but it looked like he was going to survive.
On JJ's birthday, exactly one week after he collapsed, he called me, Steven, and Trevor and asked us to come visit him in the hospital. He would have turned 19. Steven and I cried when we heard his voice. Two weeks later, JJ was released from the hospital. He was able to go to prom and the wrestling banquet. At the dinner, JJ's dad called Trevor to thank him.
“I'm speechless when I think about what Trevor did. I'm so grateful that Steven taught our kids how to respond in an emergency. Dr. Martinez told us that early CPR was key to JJ's survival. Some adults can't perform CPR, but my son was so calm under pressure. Trevor wants to be a doctor one day, and I know he can.”
