Tampa mother spreading awareness about importance of CPR and AED training after son's life was saved

TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa mother is advocating for more CPR and AED training after her son collapsed suddenly at track practice.

In February, Ansel Laureano, 17, was at track practice at Leto High School, when he collapsed and stopped breathing.

"I didn't think it was going to happen to me because I'm pretty athletic," Laureano said. "And I did cross-country and soccer, before track season, so for it to happen to me was like, I did not expect that at all."

One of the coaches immediately started CPR while calling 911, and the assistant principal grabbed the school’s AED while they waited for first responders to get there.

"Thank God that happened in the school," Bismeiry Lantigua, Laureano’s mother said. "Because if it happened here that day, I would’ve called 911, and I don’t have an idea what I can know."

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Lantigua said it’s a priority now for her entire family to know the basics of CPR training and what to do if something like this ever happens again.

Lantigua is making sure her family has the proper training.

"I think it's a huge opportunity God gave to me to keep him here with me," Lantigua said.

Lantigua is determined to spread awareness about the importance of knowing this life-saving training.

The American Heart Association of Tampa Bay says the simple training its team teaches is ‘Two Steps to Save a Life’, designed to help give people realistic tools and knowledge to apply in a chaotic situation.

"It's, call 911 and get help on the way, and then push hard and fast and do quality chest compressions until help comes through the door," Courtney Burt, the Vice President of Community Impact, with the AHA said.

Burt said you have about 10 minutes to help save someone’s life when they stop breathing.

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When Laureano collapsed, his family said he wasn’t breathing for about eight minutes, so the quick thinking by his coach and assistant principal saved his life.

The CDC said more than 356,000 people in the U.S. have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year.

"The really sobering statistic is that usually less than 10% of those individuals walk away," Burt said.

Burt said this is usually because bystanders don’t know how to help.

She explained that the easiest and most important things people can do are check if the person is breathing, then start chest compressions and call 911. If there is an AED available, she said that can also be used.

"Just by doing the chest compressions increases the chance of someone's survival two to three times," Burt said. "And then once we get the AED, if it is a shockable rhythm, that AED then brings a person's survival chance to 70 to 80%, depending on how fast that gets onto their chest."

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As Laureano continues to recover, he and his family have made it their mission to spread awareness about the importance of CPR and AED training, in hopes of eventually bringing training courses to different groups in the community.

Pictured: Ansel Laureano

"I just feel like more and more people should know about this," Laureano said. "Some people seem to not care, but they don't know that it may happen to them one day."

The American Heart Association of Tampa Bay says two bills about CPR and AED resources in the Florida legislature are waiting for the Governor’s approval.

The Senate bill, known as the "HeartCharged Act", would require every public school to have at least one AED on campus.

Burt said the House bill regarding youth athletic activities would require licensed coaches to have ongoing CPR and AED training.

"So there's the initial requirement for certifications and for training, but there was no mention of ongoing training in the previous statute," Burt said. "And then it didn't include AED. So a lot of times, when we think of CPR education, we think it's just a given. But that wasn't the case before. So now it is going to be a requirement that they have to have that AED education, in tandem with the CPR education."

The American Heart Association of Tampa Bay is still working to get more funding and access to resources, in order for every teacher and educator of all grade levels to have this training.

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