Bay Area mom credits Pasco County school staff's quick response, AED for saving son's life
Student saved after cardiac arrest
A 13-year-old boy who went into cardiac arrest at school credit staff members for saving his life. FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy reports.
SPRING HILL, Fla. - December 9 is a day etched into Courtney Jackson's memory forever.
Her 13-year-old son, Jonathan Jackson, collapsed and went into sudden cardiac arrest as he got a drink from the water fountain during gym class at Crews Lake Middle School in Pasco County.
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"The only reason why that school found him and saved his life is because a little girl needed to go to the bathroom. No one knew he was back there. It was through double doors, and even if you open the door, like, if they were just checking to make sure no kids were back there after P.E., they wouldn't have even seen him. So, the coach had to walk through the double doors, unlock the bathroom door, and on his way back is when he found Jonathan. And thankfully, he just immediately called for the crisis team and started CPR," Courtney said.
She said her son had collapsed onto his side and started convulsing. They had to shock him three times with the AED to get his heart back into rhythm.
What they're saying:
"The team just acted quickly and just executed their whole plan, and they saved his life," Courtney said. "Without AEDs, my son wouldn't have made it. I literally would have been celebrating the holidays without a child this year, and it's terrifying, and it makes me sick to think about."
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"Had they not got his heart back into rhythm and done the CPR, he would have had brain damage. His cardiologist has literally gone over and over. He said 90% of people that go into cardiac arrest outside of the hospital die. Ninety percent die, and Jonathan was at school. And I mean, just the way that everything planned out, it's just, it's insane. I have no words. I can't even wrap my head around how he was just so fortunate, and I still have him here today. And he is a normal kid back to destroying the house and playing around," Courtney said. "There is an angel watching over him. I mean, there's just no other explanation. God has bigger plans for him, and he made everything play out, so beautifully that saved his life."
Dig deeper:
Pasco County Schools said it has a districtwide AED program that includes at least one AED in every school, a cardiac emergency response plan that’s reviewed and distributed annually, biannual AED drills to make sure staff’s response times are under three minutes and more.
"I actually have chills right now with what you're telling me, because this is absolutely amazing, amazing," Shawn Sima, the impact director for the nonprofit Who We Play For, said.
The nonprofit, based out of Cocoa Beach helped pass new legislation that requires all Florida schools to have AEDs and an emergency action plan for cardiac emergencies, including CPR training. Who We Play For helps provide heart screenings and pushes for AEDs in public places and trainings.
An AED saved Sima’s daughter in 2016. She collapsed running on a treadmill at a local gym.
"To put it bluntly, my daughter dropped dead, and unlike most, she collapsed in front of a group of people, one who had just taken CPR, because his job required it. The AED hanging on the wall had just had its battery and pads changed out about three weeks prior, and this group of nonmedical bystanders saved my daughter's life," he said.
"The American Heart Association says about 23,000 kids a year in America collapse with sudden cardiac arrest, and the majority of them don't make it, and that's sort of what got us and our family involved in this mission," Sima said.
Big picture view:
The legislation has impacted lives, including Jonathan’s. The multi-sport athlete was in the hospital for four days. He had a heart ablation and was diagnosed with an extra electrical passageway in his heart that caused three different heart arrhythmias.
"His heart rate could have gotten up to 400, and his blood pressure just plummets. There's no way that he would be alive today without that AED," Courtney said.
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"After what happened to me, I figured out that AEDs are so much more important than what I thought they were before," Jonathan said. "Walking past them in school, I never knew why they had them until I genuinely had to use one. And they're so much more important."
Jonathan now has to wear a portable defibrillator for three months.
What's next:
"We did the heart ablation in the hospital and so that's hopefully going to close that passageway. The only thing is that it's not guaranteed that that passageway will close completely. It may heal itself and open back up and that's why we have the defibrillator on him as of now, but we'll go back in February," Courtney said. "They'll do the testing again to see if it is closed. If it is, he'll do a stress test in March. And then, as long as everything's negative, he'll be cleared to play sports again, which terrifies me."
Last year, Jonathan collapsed in a park, his mom said, and was seen by different cardiologists. They said then it was dehydration.
"Get your kids checked for cardiac clearance," Courtney said. "The EKGs before playing sports, and look into WPW [the condition Jonathan has], because Jonathan's was so subtle that, without his cardiac arrest, they overlooked it. They overlooked it a year ago, and it got to the point where my son had a heart attack and almost died."
Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, students in high school have to have an EKG to participate in athletic competition. It’s part of new legislation Who We Play For also helped pass called the Second Chance Act.
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The medic that flew with Jonathan plans to visit his school soon to recognize the staff for its efforts and reiterate the importance of AEDS.
Jonathan says he’s looking at the New Year as a second chance at life.
"Being able to survive it was just like a really big step with all the teachers acting so fast and everything. It's just like a brand new year for me, and I'm ready for it," Jonathan said.
The Source: This article was written with information provided by Courtney Jackson, Who We Play For and Pasco County Schools.