John Kelly, Ph. D.

He began talking with the Methodist Hospital officials in San Antonio. Those great folks were most receptive. Many Boerne ISD employees have received excellent care at their San Antonio hospital and thus there were many good feelings about Methodist here.  Soon after Craig’s meeting with the hospital officials, he excitedly reported that Methodist was considering the donation of three (expensive) portable AEDs to our school district. They did indeed give us this great gift approximately two years ago.

Fast forward to Thursday evening, March 1, 2007 at 10 p.m., Boerne baseball field:   The Boerne varsity team just finished a game against Reagan High School. Suddenly, the umpire at home plate clutched his chest and fell to the ground. Chuck Foster (BHS baseball coach) quickly yelled at the crowd to call 911. Lauren Burns, one of our professional athletic trainers, raced to the man within seconds and began treatment. Two fast-thinking student trainers named Chelsea San Miguel and Emily Mazurek quickly retrieved the donated AED and brought it to the man’s side. Simultaneously a visiting parent from Reagan High School, who happened to be a cardiologist, climbed down from the stands and began to help. So did others including local doctors and Beverly Smith, a professional nurse and mom to of one of our athletes. 

It was feared the man might be dead. He had no discernible pulse and no heartbeat. CPR was administered without effect. The AED was attached and during the second cycle of electric jolts, the cardiologist suddenly said, “I have a pulse.”  Within a few minutes the umpire was talking with his wife on the cell phone while local fire officials arrived and administered an IV.  The ambulance arrived thereafter. The patient was transported to (you guessed it!) Methodist Hospital for overnight care. 

As the ambulance pulled away, Dr. Barbaro the cardiologist, said, “He wouldn’t have made it if it hadn’t been for that machine. I’m going to buy one for my car tomorrow.”  

Stan Leech our athletic director, called me and said “Praise the Lord, the man is going to be okay. You need to tell Craig about his work paying off tonight.”  I told Craig that if he never did another thing in his life he should know his actions of two years ago helped save a life tonight. Ditto for all the others involved. After Craig asked about the man’s condition, he simply said, “Thanks be to God,” as did many others that same night. 

Last year, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst began championing the idea of having at least one of these devices at each Texas high school.  This is truly a great idea.  I’m proud to say that Boerne ISD already has 15 of these AED devices deployed throughout the district - and a huge number of people trained to use them. 

Let me close by thanking God for people like Lauren, Dr. Barbaro, Chelsea, Emily, Beverly, Coach Foster, Methodist Hospital officials, Craig and all others who rose to the occasion as His instruments. They helped save a precious life – right here in this blessed community!