LEELANAU COUNTY - A Northern Michigan man says he’s counting his blessings after an AED saved his life while he was refereeing a basketball game in Leelanau County. Now he wants to spread awareness about the device that saved his life.
“I’m just so blessed. So blessed. And this community has reached out and helped,” says referee James Barbera.
Barbera has been a referee for 35 years. During a game, he was complaining of back pain to parents in the stands, but he thought nothing of it, until he went into cardiac arrest during the fourth quarter.
Cheyenne Hopps, a mother of a player who is CPR certified, jumped in to help.
“We were just I was just trying to keep them alert. I was asking him questions,” Hopps says, “I asked him if he could hear me. I asked him what his name was. And there was no response. So, I had called out to whoever was next to me to go get the aid, and I didn’t find a pulse. And I knew right then and there I had to start compressions.”
While Hopps was doing compressions, Captain Brandon Brinks from the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office, who was there as a parent, stepped in to help with the AED.
“There was somebody behind me calling 911. And the athletic director, Toby Wegener, brought me the AED, and we were able to get him hooked up to it very quickly. And advised the shock. We were able to shock him. And, shortly after that, we started seeing some signs that that had worked. It was pretty amazing, in terms of just the response time for everything, from the time that, Jim went down to a time, but the ambulance was here was just minutes.”
The MHSAA this year required an AED emergency plan from each school, and with the help of the community it was a success. Now looking back on the situation, Barbera is just thankful for everyone who helped save his life and wants to spread awareness about how important it is to have AEDs.
“I think if I could do anything I can make sure these devices are in the right places, “shares Barbera,” I would just tell people to, you know if you don’t have them, put them in schools, just get them and, put them in, maybe have 1 or 2, but, just have them.”