Miles Sanchez, a 15-year-old freshman at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills, has played volleyball almost his entire life.
Sanchez also has an underlying heart condition called Brugada syndrome, which can cause life-threatening irregular heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. He had a pacemaker and AED implanted in his body when he was nine years old.
“I’m very athletic and I’m used to running around a lot and playing a lot of sports,” he said.
But things changed on Tuesday night.
“I remember feeling dizzy,” Sanchez said. “I got down on my knees.”
He went into cardiac arrest after training after a volleyball match.
“We got a call from the Palos Hills Police Department,” said Sanchez's mother, Tatum Sanchez. She said, “When I heard the word collapse, it immediately turned into anxiety and fear.”
His parents rushed to the hospital and learned it was his coach, Jordan Sintic, who shocked his heart and brought it back into rhythm.
“One of the boys actually ran to get the AED,” Sintic said. “I was very shocked at first when he didn't respond, but then I went into fight or flight mode and started doing everything I had learned.”
Sintić learned and became certified in CPR during his water safety instructor training and lifesaver training. She continued to earn her credentials during her tenure at Reavis High School in Burbank, where she continued after she began teaching at Stagg.
”[It was] Obviously very emotional. “I just replay it in my head consistently. I'm so grateful that what I was able to do worked out, because not many situations like that end well. ” she said.
Sanchez is currently recuperating at home, recovering from surgery in which doctors installed a pacemaker and internal AED wires.
His family would like to thank his coaches for saving his life that night.
“We'll always be grateful to his coaches,” his father, Mario Sanchez, said. “We're thankful that our son was here sitting at home with us because things could have been different.”
They said a cardiac report showed Sintic had heart problems before being shocked with an AED.
The family now hopes their story will inspire schools to require heart tests on students and encourage other students to learn CPR and AED assistance.
“We're looking at a program to bring it to nearby schools,” Tatum-Sanchez said.
“I'm lucky that I know my son's condition well, but there may be children who don't know that they have underlying conditions,” Mario Sanchez said.
