A high school football player in Portland, Oregon, had a heart attack during a game Friday and was brought back to life by a cardiac nurse who just happened to be in the stands.
Hayward Demison, Jr. says, “I love the game with all my heart, my favorite thing do do since I was little.”
That love for football has helped Central Catholic tailback Hayward Demison earn quite a name for himself. Number 21, the junior with the fast feet. The kid who died and came back to life on the football field. Central Catholic Head Coach Steve Pyne says, “Just happy that he’s with us still, humbled by the whole thing.”
It was Friday night and down to the wire against Canby. The quarterback passed the ball to Demison who ran it in for a touchdown and the win. Hayward says, “it was very intense, people went crazy, they were like oh he’s going he’s going he’s gone.”
Demison’s heart was racing! But his pulse never subsided. In fact, it kept getting faster and faster. “I was like, Coach I can’t breathe, and I asked him to get my inhaler,” Hayward says.
Steve Pyne says “he had been diagnosed with athlete’s asthma a couple years ago so thought maybe he was having an episode.” But Demison’s inhaler just made things worse. He collapsed into his coach’s arms.
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Cardiac nurse Lisa Lyver just happened to be in the stands. “It sure didn’t look like asthma to me being as unresponsive as he was,” she says. Seconds later she was by Demison’s side. “He was not breathing he didn’t have a pulse, pupils weren’t reacting to anything, everyone was shouting at him, at that point, started doing chest compressions on him,” Lyver continues.
Demison’s heart stopped for two minutes. Lyver says he needed a defibrillator but she prayed for a miracle and then it happened. Lisa Lyver says, “you could actually feel his heart start beating right under my hands it’s amazing, it’s amazing to see somebody come back to life.”
Hayward says, “I thank God for that and I thank Lisa Lyder for saving me.” So does his family. “It was just really hard to see your son go through that, it was just unexplainable,” Hayward’s father says. Hayward Demison senior couldn’t lose his son, and Misha here, well, she could never lose her twin brother.
Hayward says, “That day was just emotional for me cause she really loves me and I love her too.” A love that far surpasses football.
Demison is of course out for the season and will have heart surgery in a couple weeks. Doctors say if all goes well, he should be able to play football next school year.
