AZLE, Texas -- Before being involved in the tackle, the 13-year-old cornerback seemed just fine. But after the whistle sounded, the Azle Junior High seventh-grader lay motionless on the ground.
"I saw the hit and I saw the boy go down," said Mike Leatherwood, a Fort Worth firefighter who worked the concession stand during Tuesday's game.
It was not a particularly vicious hit, Leatherwood explained.
But if you sustain a blow to the chest at just the right time with just the right amount of force, "it can stop your heart," he said.
Leatherwood said that when he saw a coach start doing chest compressions, he knew there was a problem.
"The first thing I did was check his pulse, and he was in full cardiac arrest," Leatherwood said. "He was not breathing, and he was pulseless."
An Azle Elementary School nurse, Rita White, was at the game and used the school's automated external defibrillator on the student, whose name was not released. School officials said the student was conscious and alert afterward. He was taken to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth by helicopter ambulance.
"We hooked it up and the machine said one shock was advised," Leatherwood said. "I gave him one shock and his pulse came back immediately."
The parents, who have also asked not to be identified, released a statement through hospital personnel Wednesday.
"I want to tell everyone who was there last night that if it wasn't for them my son wouldn't be here," the statement read. "I appreciate everyone's support and concern and especially appreciate the nurse who saved my son's life. He is doing well."
The student was listed in good condition Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Leatherwood said his son and the hurt student are teammates.
"My wife visited him this morning and he was sitting up in bed telling jokes," he said.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
