An incredible story of tournament safety and first responders

[MISkier]

September 23, 2023 was a beautiful day for Michigan's final water skiing tournament of the season at a great site well out in the countryside of West Michigan.  With full sunshine, light winds, and reasonable temperatures for late September, the tournament started at 8:30AM with a full running order.

The first skier off the dock, Kevan Fager (M7), had traveled from Minnesota to visit his son and daughter, who were attending college nearby.  All 3 had entered the tournament.  After his round had concluded, Kevan returned to his car and changed into dry clothing between rounds.  Shortly afterward, as he sat in the car with his family, he began to feel unwell.  A few moments after that, he became unresponsive and went into cardiac arrest.  His family immediately removed him from the car and a call to 911 was made.  Kevan’s son, Kerry, who reportedly had completed CPR training only weeks before, began resuscitating his father.  His daughter informed tournament officials of the emergency.  The Chief Safety, Kurt Rotman @kurt, raced to the starting dock to retrieve the safety kit and Mike Trembowicz, another skier who is an anesthesiologist.

As Kerry continued to administer textbook CPR, Kurt and Mike arrived within a minute or so.  The safety kits provided to Michigan tournaments by the Michigan Water Ski Association contain an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).  Kurt opened the AED and initialized it.  Mike applied the pads to the Kevan’s chest and continued his assessment of Kevan’s condition while Kerry continued CPR.  The AED analyzed Kevan’s heart and advised for a shock, which was delivered.  Kerry resumed CPR and a second official, Larry Lutz, who is a nurse anesthetist, was summoned from his duties as boat judge to assist, as the tournament was halted. Kevan was gray in color and gurgling, with no evident steady vital signs.  A second shock from the AED was advised and delivered.  Kerry resumed CPR.  First responders began to arrive in waves from the local fire department with additional equipment.  An advanced airway was inserted and the bag was used to supply breaths.  A third shock from the AED was advised and delivered.  Kerry resumed providing chest compressions.  As additional responders arrived, an automatic chest compression device was applied and began to supply the compressions.  A fourth shock from the AED was advised and delivered.  Mike and Larry monitored Kevan and attempted to detect vital signs and assist/advise responders in resuscitation efforts.  The coordination and cooperation amongst all of the responders was calm and efficient.  Every required action was quickly identified and completed without confusion or loss of focus.

Eventually, Kevan exhibited weak, but steady, vital signs and his color had improved substantially.  He was transferred to the ambulance gurney and transported to the hospital.  Kevan received additional care and various procedures at the hospital.  After a week, he was discharged and returned home to Minnesota to continue his recuperation.  His prognosis is excellent.

With a deep devotion to their Christian Faith, Kevan and his family credit the amazing outcome and confluence of skilled responders to God.  Indeed, many of the responders and bystanders that day immediately commented on His presence and the miracle they had witnessed.

[6balls]

Credit to all involved textbook code work.  Kudos.   Doing things right gives the best statistical chance.  

[MISkier]

@6balls, I heard a statistic that the survival rate for CPR is like 20% in a hospital and like 10% outside of a hospital. Does that sound about right?  The tournament was kind of in the middle of nowhere.

it was such a great response.  His son was just amazing during the whole situation and the whole team performed so well.

[03RLXi]

Great result! Well done to all involved.

Regarding CPR statistics, don't believe the numbers. As a volunteer fireman/first responder, we are told to ignore the numbers and do our best in all circumstances. Yes, we are informed that the chance of survival in a hospital is better than in an urban environment, and even better than in rural situations to which I respond. Improvement in survival is mainly due to the speed of our response and AED. However, we are also told that the cause of the event is the major influencer. For example, the chance of recovery is far worse for an age related medical event such as cardiac arrest, even with swift medical attention, compared to accident events like drowning or electric shock, especially if a young person. So, the moral here is to ignore the numbers, do your best, hope for a miracle, but don't beat yourself up if it "fails". Importantly, know that you have done nothing wrong if you gave it your all.

 

[dave2ball]

Great job for all involved. Sounds like he had zero down time which was a huge difference.   
Ive been a  firemen for over 18 yrs plus 12 yrs as a medic  30 yrs on the streets. I’ve had my far share of codes and the only thing in common was quick CPR and an AED will make the biggest difference.  
More then a handful of tournaments are in the far out skirts of cities towns where EMS / fire have a long response time, it would not be a bad idea for an AED be part of the lake tournament kit. Unfortunately they are +/- 1K. But if it saves one life it was money well spent.  

[MISkier]

@dave2ball, the Michigan Water Ski Association bought the AEDs after Jeff Smith (owner of Nautique dealer Silver Spray Sports) suffered cardiac arrest while skiing on vacation at Okeeheelee.  I believe he was also fortunate that two doctors were nearby and able to respond.

https://www.tctimes.com/news/local-water-skier-takes-first-at-nationals/article_cee608ea-c5c4-11e9-a003-3f1f466b05cd.html

 

[dave2ball]

@MISkier good for your ski association.  I heard about Jeff. What saved his life was the observer  recognized what happened and started CPR right away. Unfortunately doctors are just like any other citizen when on the streets. They have CPR knowledge but Fire/EMS work under a county medical directors license. So unless a doctor wants  to take control  of the incident and or scene which includes riding to the hospital in the transport unit take care  the paper work they will stand out of the way.  

[agundlachny]

40 minutes ago, dave2ball said:

@MISkier good for your ski association.  I heard about Jeff. What saved his life was the observer  recognized what happened and started CPR right away. Unfortunately doctors are just like any other citizen when on the streets. They have CPR knowledge but Fire/EMS work under a county medical directors license. So unless a doctor wants  to take control  of the incident and or scene which includes riding to the hospital in the transport unit take care  the paper work they will stand out of the way.  

 

40 minutes ago, dave2ball said:

@MISkier good for your ski association.  I heard about Jeff. What saved his life was the observer  recognized what happened and started CPR right away. Unfortunately doctors are just like any other citizen when on the streets. They have CPR knowledge but Fire/EMS work under a county medical directors license. So unless a doctor wants  to take control  of the incident and or scene which includes riding to the hospital in the transport unit take care  the paper work they will stand out of the way.  

Great job by all involved!

[6balls]

Early defibrillation is key.  Having AED's available has increased the survival for out of hospital arrest.  

[jcamp]

Can USAWS put together a bulk AED buy? My club would be interested. 

[dave2ball]

@jcamp that is a question for USA waterski.  If you or your club opp  to invest in one I would go talk with your local FD/transport  agency so the unit would be compatible with their defibrillator pads. That way it is just plug and play when giving care to the FD, an added benefit is that the department may swap out defibrillator pads when close to expired date. 
Zoll and Physio control are the 2 EKG/defibrillator monitors  used in the EMS/ FD departments 
 

[03RLXi]

Are you all aware in USA that you can now buy disposable AEDs not much bigger then mobile phone and low cost? They're about US$385

 https://cellaed.io/au/cellaed 

https://pracmednz.com/product/cell-aed/   

[MarkTimm]

Good on the Michigan Water Ski Association to provide AED's.

We have a local skier that has their own AED and has made it available for local tournaments and even regionals in the past.

I am going to ask our local federation, (Washington and Oregon) to purchase a couple of them.

And to all that helped that day a big attaboy. I truly believe you will never forget your first code.

For me personally it was on Christmas day and watching someone go from Dead to breathing on their own after six rounds of CPR and one shock with the AED was life changing.

 

[6balls]

Had a guy drop on the ice playing league hockey a few years back--some of our rescue squad guys happened to be playing started CPR/called 911/ran for the AED--lucky man.  Had bypass surgery.  Doing fine today.    

[Bulldog]

32.5 Years in the Fire Service - I have learned that when your time comes it just comes..... sometimes it all works out and we save people but many times we do not.  Always error on the side of safety and your odds of living to an old age greatly improves.

 

 

[canopyflier]

As the victim of this cardiac arrest, this is not how I wanted to get attention on Ball of Spray.  With that said, I will be eternally grateful for all of the people that helped save my life at Billy's Pond.   Thanks to the group of Michigan skiers that decided to have an AED onsite.  Thanks also for all of the kind thoughts and prayers from all of the Ball of Spray members.

Kevan Fager

[MISkier]

@canopyflier, it's so awesome to hear from you.  Best wishes on your continued recovery.