Article reposted from tdtnews.com
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Windee Skrabanek was recently honored by the Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association for saving the life of a Temple High School athlete last year.
Skrabanek, who teaches sports medicine at Temple High and heads up the student athletic training program, was one of three trainers to receive the 2017 Excellence in Athletic Training Award at the SWATA Honors & Awards Ceremony held in San Marcos in July.
In March 2016, Temple High School athlete De’Aveun Banks collapsed during training. Skrabanek kept him alive by doing CPR and administering electric shocks from an Automated External Defibrillator until an ambulance arrived.
Skrabanek said it was an honor to receive the award. She said she enjoyed being able to share experiences with other trainers who had faced similar crises at the San Marcos awards ceremony.
“It was really neat to be there with some of the other people,” Skrabanek said. “I knew one of the athletic trainers that was at Texas State that received the award as well. … It can be a traumatic thing, and (it helps) to be able to talk about it with somebody else that just went through it.”
The Excellence in Athletic Training Award is presented to athletic trainers who intervened in a situation where someone would most likely have died or experienced life-altering injuries without the trainer’s assistance.
Banks later learned that he has a congenital heart defect that caused him to go into cardiac arrest. After a long recovery, he still attends football practice and goes to every game, although his doctors will not allow him to play.
“I’m grateful that she saved me, and to all the people that were there,” Banks said.
Banks does not remember the sudden collapse or the first few weeks of recovery. After spending the night in Scott & White Medical Center-Temple, he was flown to Houston for further treatment, and it was several weeks before he fully regained consciousness. He will be a senior this coming school year.
“Receiving this award is a true honor, but the rewarding part is having the student still with us today,” Skrabanek said in a release. “Seeing that smiling face each day is a reminder of how precious life is.”