EXCLUSIVE: High School Soccer Player Collapses During Game
By Rahel Solomon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- "I don't remember anything, I just remember the hospital," William Tennent freshman Trevor Newhouse still doesn't remember much about his soccer game at Pennbrook Middle School October 19th where he went into sudden cardiac arrest.
"It was just awful," said Trevor's mom Patti Newhouse.
Family friend and first responder John Izak was in the stands at the time and rushed out to help.
"His heart was no longer pumping blood, and everything was going into failure," Izak said.
With the help of a school EMT and the local fire department, Trevor was transported to Lansdale-Abington Hospital and then flown to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"It was devastating, I honestly on Monday and Tuesday, I did not think my son was coming home with me," said Patti.
He spent nearly two weeks at CHOP, that's when Patti learned he had a pre-existing heart condition- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Despite playing sports for nearly ten years, annual check-ups never caught it.
Preventative sports cardiologist Dr. Daivid Shipon says he's seeing more and more cases like Trevor's being reported.
"The reporting of this is much more. The question is really what is the incidence across the world and that is debated," said Dr. Shipon, adding, " In some data, they say one in 5 to 6,000 basketball players could potentially have sudden cardiac arrest."
Patti says she believes if AEDs and EMTs weren't so quickly accessible that day, Trevor's story may have had a different ending. Now she and Izak are pushing for defibrillators at all schools, which is not required in all of Pennsylvania, and more EMT coverage at sporting events.
"How accessible are [AEDs] during the critical hours, in the evenings and weekends when kids are playing on these fields," said Izak.
Trevor still has more doctor's appointments ahead, these days his mom says he's resting and playing video games. Doctors say he likely won't be able to competitively play soccer again.
