A young boy from Poland saved an 18-year-old in the USA. It happened while playing basketball. One of the high school students suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Fortunately, two other players kept their cool and gave the boy first aid. One of them was a Pole – Szymon Koszyca. A reporter from “Fakty o Świecie” TVN24 BiS talked to him.
He has been attending the American school Winston Salem Christian in North Carolina for less than two months, and already everyone there knows him. – Everyone is coming up to me and congratulating me on my reaction – says Szymon Koszyca, a Polish exchange student at Winston Salem Christian. 17-year-old Szymon Koszyca dreamed of going on exchange to the United States, because he sees his future in basketball. – I have been playing basketball since I was a child, and it is known that in the United States there is the highest level of basketball – he adds. No one could have thought that the decision to leave would save someone’s life.
Last Sunday, the Pole and his friend from Australia rushed to help another teenager. 18-year-old Dejohn Blunt – called DJ by his peers – suddenly fell to the ground during basketball practice. He suffered a cardiac arrest. There was no adult around.
– Suddenly I hear something falling to the ground, I turn around and DJ is lying in the middle of the pitch. The boys around him started to panic, says Szymon.
The Pole kept his cool. He called the campus supervisor, then ran to the injured colleague, checked his reactions, found that he was not breathing and immediately started CPR – i.e. cardiopulmonary resuscitation. – I did 30 compressions, one breath, and then he started breathing again. So short, but he’s back. Just then, James, a friend from Australia, came running. We turned him on his side to the safe position, but after a while he lost his breath again, so James continued resuscitation and we did four such cycles – says Szymon.
Express response
It all took just a few minutes, but in such situations literally every second counts. Dejohn managed to be kept alive before the services arrived. He was taken to hospital. The Pole was one of the few teenagers in the room who knew exactly what to do. He admits that when he was in primary school, he was very attentive during EDB classes, i.e. safety education classes.
– We had exercises with a mannequin in every lesson for a whole month, we had a test on it, so it just stuck in my memory. But it is also popular at various festivals in Poland that the fire brigade or an ambulance come and show children from an early age what CPR looks like – adds Szymon.
Dejohn Blunt left the hospital after almost a week’s stay. He still awaits diagnostic tests. Szymon will stay in the United States until at least June. He plans to return to Poland for the holidays. He will certainly be warmly welcomed – among others by his home club in Poznań.
Facts about the World TVN24 BiS
Main photo source: CNN