Fans Help Save Man At Michigan-Notre Dame Game
ANN ARBOR (WWJ/AP) - A Notre Dame fan who suffered cardiac arrest during last football weekend's game at Michigan survived to watch the final touchdowns from a hospital bed.
The school says 69-year-old Leo Staudacher's heart stopped beating during the second quarter of Saturday night's game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
Speaking to WWJ Newsradio 950's Marie Osborne, Staudacher, who was at the game with his three sons, described how it happened.
"A little bit into the second quarter I got like a very searing pain in the upper part of the right side of the chest," Staudacher said.
The Bay City man survived thanks in part to one football fan who began CPR and others who called for a medical team.
The medical team used an automated electric defibrillator and he was transported to the University of Michigan Health System, where he was diagnosed with having a heart attack.
After treatment at the hospital, he watched part of the final quarter from an intensive care unit bed - and saw Michigan's thrilling 35-31 win.
Staudacher said he knows he was very lucky.
"In fact, if I'd changed my mind and not come to the game and stayed at home I probably would have died because I would've been watching the game by myself," he said.
Staudacher said, while he remains an Irish fan, he promises never to actively root against the Wolverines again.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
