ALLEN PARK, Mich. – In track, a split second can determine who wins a race. But when 14-year-old Alyssa Atkinson, an athlete at Allen Park High School, suffered a cardiac arrest during a recent practice, it was the coaches who suddenly found themselves racing against the clock. Alyssa’s family is forever grateful they were there.
“I got out of school, got my track shoes on, we did our two warm-up laps,” Alyssa recalled.
She doesn’t remember what happened next, but her coaches will never forget it.
“Our coaches were doing some time trials, and one of our athletes finished the race, stepped off the track, and collapsed,” said James Victor, Allen Park High School’s athletic director. “The head coach quickly ran to get the AED while the assistant coach began CPR on Alyssa. They had the AED on her in under a minute, all while the assistant coach was on the phone with 911.”
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The AED restored Alyssa’s heartbeat before the paramedics arrived. Her mother, Kelly Dolan, raced to meet her at the hospital.
“The doctors didn’t mince words when they said, ‘Those coaches saved her life,‘” Dolan said.
Throughout her years of competitive cheer and track, Alyssa had never experienced any symptoms. Tests have found no explanation for what caused her heart to stop.
“With physicals and doctor check-ups, there’s never been any inkling that there was a heart issue for anything like this to happen,” Dolan explained.
For James Victor, this incident highlights the importance of being prepared.
“It can happen to anyone at any time, anywhere, and you can’t drill or train or talk about it enough,” he said. “I’m so proud of the coaching staff. I’m so proud of the athletes. They just everything that we train and we practice the drills, we do, the emergency action plan. They executed it perfectly, and thankfully.”
Alyssa hopes her story can help others.
“I’m really thankful and grateful that I was where I was at that time, that I wasn’t anywhere else,” she said. “Having AEDs at school, having, like, people learn about CPR and like, how to do it correctly, I think it’s really important to bring awareness to all that.”
“I have her here, and she’s my daughter. She’s come back and been such a soldier through it all. And I’m just very happy,” Dolan said. “What do you say to someone that saved your daughter’s life? There are no words.”
Alyssa learned CPR herself last summer, never imagining she would someday need it. Now, with an implanted defibrillator, she should be able to return to her sports in a few months. The AED that was used to save her life was kept inside the track concession stand, allowing it to be retrieved quickly. The school now plans to mount it on the wall outside the stand to make it even more accessible.
More: CPR training resource guide: Why it’s important, how it works, how to get trained
