What started as a soccer game between a Florida dad and his two sons turned into a medical emergency, and a 17-year-old’s quick response helped save his father’s life.
Rene Chirinos was in St. Petersburg with his sons, David and Elias, in January when he suddenly began to feel unwell, according to NBC affiliate WFLA and ABC affiliate WFTS.
Rene said he felt overheated and had trouble breathing. He also said he “lost the ability to feel on [the] left side of my hand.”
He went to rest in his car, but his symptoms got worse.
“I was laying in the truck and I thought, ‘Is this going to be my last breath, God?’ ” he recalled, per WFTS.
That was when David stepped in. The 17-year-old called 911 after recognizing heart attack symptoms he had learned about during a field trip to HCA Florida Northside Hospital a few weeks earlier.
“We had learned about heart attacks and chest compressions. I remember, they had taken us through a class and they showed us how to correctly do chest compressions,” David said, per WFTS.
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue and Sunstar paramedic crews responded to the scene and took Rene to the emergency room, according to WFLA.
At the hospital, Rene had a stent placed in his heart while doctors treated him, WFTS reported.
On Monday, March 16, Rene and David reunited with the hospital workers involved in his care, according to the reports.
Hospital staff also honored David for helping his father survive. WFTS reported that he was given a “challenge coin” to mark what he did that day.
“A challenge coin is a military custom,” said Lindsay Douthitt, stroke coordinator at Northside Hospital, “and it’s essentially a tangible job well done, a token of appreciation.”
She said the hospital created the coins for community partners including emergency medical services and fire crews, and wanted to extend that recognition to community members too.
“So we designed it for our community partners, our EMS, our fire, but also we want to extend that to our community members when we have something such [as] in David’s case.”
