North Texan who suffered cardiac arrest is on a mission to save lives
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – There are a lot of fortunate reasons why Damar Hamlin is still alive, but medical professionals say the quick actions of those witnessing what happened may be the most important.
Julie Coon knows this firsthand and is now on a mission with her husband to save lives.
"Watching Damar Hamlin go into cardiac arrest made me think of my own cardiac arrest in 2018 because I was standing there talking to someone and next just fell to the ground," she said.
It happened right outside Plano Senior High School. She was volunteering at the time and just like in Hamlin's case, those around her immediately jumped into action.
"I was very blessed because I was with a friend who called 911 and I had twin girls who were cognizant of what happened," she said.
They called their bus driver over to begin CPR while they grabbed an AED.
"The girls got the athletic trainer and the tag teamed doing CPR and used the AED and that brought me back," she said.
Ultimately, she was able to make a full recovery and credits their quick actions with saving her life.
"The quicker that you get CPR and an AED on that cardiac arrest victim, the quicker they can recover," she said.
Knowing exactly where AEDs are located can be challenging, which is why Julie and her husband, Greg, are working to change that.
"We created a nonprofit called Cardiac Crusade and our whole goal is to get AEDs listed on maps on your phone," Julie said.
"We are now in communication with two global mapping companies," Greg said. "When we're working with global companies it takes time. Ideally, when this launches, we'll start maybe here in Plano, go to Texas, then the United States and then obviously, globally would be our ultimate goal."
For someone not familiar, using an AED may seem complicated, but the process is easy.
"It speaks to you and talks you through it and it is not dangerous," Julie said. "It will never hurt somebody. It can only help someone. If they are given CPR and AED defibrillation right away it can be survivable."
Julie is living proof.