A Centerville senior was minutes away from losing his life during his final regular season lacrosse game.
On Saturday, Moeller varsity lacrosse team hosted Centerville at home.
Centerville team captain Grant Mays, 17, was hit in his chest with the ball during a routine on-goal shot at the start of the third quarter.
Seconds later, after he scooped up the ball and passed to a teammate, he collapsed near the 40-yard line.
Moeller head athletic trainer Craig Lindsey said he didn’t see the hit, but as soon as Mays fell, he ran onto the field.
“His legs get really wobbly … then he collapses all in one motion,” Lindsey said. “As soon as I lifted his jersey up and saw the reddened area, I knew we were dealing with an event called commodial cortis event. It’s where the heart is in between beats and there is a direct blow to the chest wall.”
The cardiac emergency is so rare, it’s only been documented 180 times in the last 20 years. But Lindsey said based on his education and training, he immediately knew what was happening to Mays’ heart.
“It throws the heart into this quivering nonfunctional state,” Lindsey said. “It’s one of those things where you hope it doesn’t happen on your clock but if it does, you prepare for it.”
Lindsey knew Mays needed his heart to be shocked back into a normal rhythm and there was a small window of time to do so.
Luckily, Lindsey always carries, an Automated External Defibrillator, AED, to every game and practice he attends with the team. It was on the sidelines for Saturday’s game.
“Thank God we had the accessibility of it and we were able to put it to use and we had a positive outcome which is the blessing at the end of the day,” Lindsey said.
Centerville Lacrosse head coach Troy Stehlin said Lindsey’s quick thinking and immediate action saved Mays’ life.
“It was certainly a scary moment because it was not a routine exhaustion,” Stehlin said. “That AED was the difference between a young man going on to succeed at Miami University and whatever else he has in store and him not moving on with that part of his life.”
Stehlin said Mays was taken to the hospital Saturday but has been released and doing great at home. He is scheduled to return to school Wednesday for his last day as a senior and will graduate this weekend.