EDMONTON — More than a dozen teams came out for a ball hockey tournament Saturday aimed at raising awareness of the importance of CPR training, mere months after a local player collapsed on the rink.
Nineteen-year-old Sam Richardson was an avid player, but an incident in August forced him to watch the game from the sidelines.
“Apparently I played the second game fine, and then the third game is where it all went down,” said Richardson.
During the tournament Richardson collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.
“His heart stopped beating on the rink right there in front of us, he stopped breathing,” said Tanya Hamilton, who helped organize the tournament. “It was a very, very scary moment.”
A referee and three players rushed to his side and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.
“I’m very grateful for all of them,” said Richardson.
He spent two days on life support in the hospital, but is now on the road to recovery.
“It could happen again, which is why I have a pacemaker, defibrillator right here so if it does happen again, I’ll be shocked and I should be fine.”
The tournament was organized to raise money for Richardson, whose life has been forever changed.
“We just want to help him as much as we can,” said Hamilton.
Organizers hope the tournament will also encourage people to take CPR training.
“All it takes is like a one day, a weekend course and you could save someone’s life,” said player Andrea Levicki. “It takes an ambulance 10 to 15 minutes and by then it’s too late.”
The four people who helped save Richardson’s life have since been nominated for the St. John Ambulance life-saving award.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
