CPR in Action!

You're at the beach one day on vacation. You're splashing through the waves and all of a sudden you feel an immense pain in your chest and left arm. You’ve just had a heart attack at the ripe age of seventeen. Now you’re unconscious, a woman spots you and with the help of another bystander they drag you ashore. This woman immediately checks for your pulse, there’s nothing. She begins CPR, but she has none of the equipment. The lifeguard’s are nowhere in sight, the woman helping you has no AED, gloves, oxygen or breathing mask.

You have no pulse and you’re not breathing. The compressions are tiring and meticulous, your rescuer is getting very tired, but she pushes on. It’s been about two and a half minutes and there is still no advanced medical care. Each second that ticks by your chances of survival get lower and lower. Her hands are the only thing keeping you alive. Your brain is lacking oxygen, her breath alone isn’t giving you enough. The paramedics are on their way but haven’t arrived yet.

It’s been about seven minutes. The sirens are getting louder and louder to all the people watching on in curiosity. Your rescuer is almost too tired to continue. The ambulance pulls up and the paramedics flood out, they take over for the woman who has lost all energy. But what if those lifeguards had been there? What if there were more people knew CPR and could have helped? Would you still be brain dead?

CPR is lifesaving. CPR is life changing. CPR will keep your heart pumping when you are dying. Any preexisting heart condition can go undetected and can strike even the youngest of people at any time. 400,000 people in the US alone will need to have CPR administered every year. Over 1,000 people a day will experience cardiac arrest and only 10% will live. Make sure the next person that needs saving is in that 10%. 

A young Japanese exchange student was spending time at the beach when tragedy struck. 26 year old Taka was unaware of his pre-existing heart condition until it was too late. The lifeguards at Bondi beach thankfully brought Taka back to life after he was clinically dead. It may seem like he is breathing when they are saving him, but this is a thing called agonal breathing. Agonal breathing is a sign that the body is not receiving the oxygen it needs. It most often occurs when a person is actively dying and is an indicator of cardiac arrest or the process of dying. Taka was clinically dead as his heart was no longer beating, the agonal respiration was in no way an indication that he was alive.