[The phenomenon involved in the story below is called Commotio Cordis.
(from wiki) From 1996 to spring 2007, the U.S.A. national Commotio Cordis Registry had 188 cases recorded, with about half occurring during organized sports. (Position Statement on Commotio Cordis". US Lacrosse. Retrieved 2008-10-16.) Almost all (96%) of the victims were male, the mean age of the victims during that period was 14.7 years, and fewer than 1 in 5 survived the incident.
When you look at a cardiogram, you see an ongoing cycle of a trigger signal (a P wave) a complex cycle (the QRS complex) in which the large pumps in the heart do the heavy lifting job of pumping the blood to the lungs (the right ventricle pump) and to the rest of the body (the left ventricle pump. The next major feature you see is the recharging of the heart (the T wave) to get ready for the next trigger signal. If a sudden, physical impact to the chest in the area of the heart occurs at a specific portion of the recharging operation, a person can go into sudden cardiac arrest.
The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation is competing in the Pepsi Refresh Everything project this month for a $50,000 grant. You can support them with your vote by going to www.slicc.org/Pepsi/ ]
A football player collapsed during practice at Spruce Creek High School this evening and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, emergency workers said.
The boy was identified by teammates as defensive lineman Jordan Peterson, a senior. He was hit in the chest by another defensive lineman during a drill and fell to the ground in cardiac arrest, according to Port Orange Battalion Cmdr. Bryan Smith.
"Anybody who's hit in the chest can experience cardiac arrest if you're hit at the specific time when your heart beats," Smith said.
Volusia County rescue workers received a 911 call about 5:55 p.m. about an injury at the Port Orange school. The caller said an athletic trainer was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the player, Smith said. With the trainer's help, a coach used an automated external defibrillator donated by Port Orange Fire Rescue to restart the boy's heart, witnesses and officials said.
"That saved that kid's life," Smith said. "No doubt."
Teammate Chauncey Langevin, a running back, said coaches initially thought Jordan just got the wind knocked out of him. But when he didn't get up, one of the coaches began performing CPR and an ambulance arrived. The other Hawks players were told to go inside and hadn't been given any further information, Chauncey said.
Jordan Peterson was doing tackling drills with teammates.
Defensive lineman Shayne Laidler said the two players rolled over after the tackle, and nothing initially seemed out of the ordinary. Then Jordan walked about 10 feet away, went down on one knee and appeared to be catching his breath, Shayne said. One of the coaches asked if he was OK, and Jordan waved him off, then rolled over onto his back, Shayne said.A few seconds later, a coach walked over and asked if Jordan was all right and got no response.
"He [Jordan] got nailed in the chest and he fell to the ground and wasn't getting back up and one of our coaches had to perform CPR on him," said teammate Patrick Maneti. "They got a pulse and a heart signal on him and when they took him to the hospital he was in cardiac arrest."
Jordan was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center of Port Orange, where he was stabilized, and immediately transferred to Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach, which handles more serious traumas.
He was in critical condition the entire time, said Mark O'Keefe of EVAC ambulance. A nursing supervisor tonight said Jordan was not listed as a patient, although that could mean he was admitted under another name or his information is being kept private. A spokeswoman for the Volusia County school district, Nancy Wait, said she could not comment on his condition.
The incident happened the same day as a football player collapsed and died during practice at Wekiva High School near Apopka.
