WASHINGTON — A 45-year-old basketball referee is still in recovery after suffering a heart attack on the court in early June. But it's a story that could have had a much different outcome if not for quick thinking and an available defibirillator.
Caught up in a busy afternoon of summer league hoops, a day of fun quickly shifted to fear for onlookers who watched ref Chad Beswick collapse.
“I was right on the floor, I was across the court," said Georgetown men's basketball coach Ed Cooley. "He was coming up the left side of the floor and you heard a collapse.”
Cooley watched as an emergency unfolded during a high school basketball camp on Georgetown's campus. Then, he quickly made the call to the team’s athletic trainer.
"Just kind of thought worst case scenario, and I grabbed our crash bag that we have with our staff athletic trainers here," said Ben Reisz, the head athletic trainer for Georgetown men's basketball. "[I was] rushing down to McDonough Gym, run in and just see this ref laying on his side."
After that, Reisz said he was in autopilot.
“He’s unresponsive, he’s not breathing, he doesn’t have a pulse," Reisz recalled. "The first thing you want to do is get your AED on as soon as possible.”
Reisz applied the defibrillator, then began chest compressions until medics arrived minutes after the collapse. A DC Fire & EMS truck happened to be on campus.
"That’s when a couple of bystanders came out waving at us," said Arturo Contreras, a firefighter and medic with DC Fire & EMS.
"When I got there, they were doing CPR," added Alfred Williams, another firefighter and medic with DC Fire & EMS who responded. "I told them to stop for a minute so I could hear what the AED was going to say, and it didn’t say continue CPR. I’m looking and I see him start breathing. That was a good sign, I was like phew."
Beswick was taken to the hospital after suffering a major heart attack.
“I remember that I was going to referee two basketball games and come home, and I just remember the first game of the day," said Beswick. "I don’t remember anything getting onto that court the second time.”
The division one basketball referee came to days later in the hospital.
“I started to understand real quickly to be really grateful for the fact that I was still here," Beswick said.
Thanks to a speedy response and a defibrillator within reach, Beswick had the opportunity to even be grateful.
“The quicker you can get an AED on somebody that’s having a cardiac event, is a life saver," Reisz said.
"If Ben wasn’t here that day, I don’t know what Chad is doing," Cooley addd.
The medics that responded to the call said the AED that was administered moments after Beswick's collapse likely saved his life or gave him a much better chance of survival. They hope his story shows the importance of AEDs being in all public places.
"They should be everywhere," Williams said. "It’s real simple, but I think everybody should learn how to use it.”
At the end of the day, it could give someone, like Beswick, another chance.
“The doctor tells me I’ve got 50 more years before I have to worry about my heart again," Beswick said.
Reisz said the day is not one he will forget anytime soon.
“I’ve got a feeling this is one of those things where we’re going to have a special bond probably for the rest of both of our lives," Reisz said.
DC Fire & EMS have an AED Incentive Program to encourage publicly accessible places to install these life saving devices.
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