By Jared Janes
The Advocate
Copyright 2006 Capital City Press
All Rights Reserved
The last thing lifelong LSU fan John Staples remembers of leaving Tiger Stadium after his team’s overtime loss to Tennessee in 2005 was standing near the elevator, waiting for a trip down from the west upper deck.
“I was sitting there waiting for the elevator door, and then I woke up in the hospital,” Staples said Friday.
Staples, who went into cardiac arrest on that late September day, was saved by on-site medical personnel, a defibrillator lugged to the top of Tiger Stadium and a trip from the 50-yard-line of the football field in a medical helicopter.
Staples’ close call led Acadian Ambulance Service to put help closer to those who need it. Now Automated External Defibrillators are placed at the 11 first-aid stations in Tiger Stadium.
The devices, which cost about $1,500 each, are lightweight and can be used to get someone’s heart started in a situation where every minute counts.
“It is definitely now the standard of care,” said Porter Taylor, operations manager for Acadian. “Every stadium that hosts events has to want one of these.”
On Friday, Staples was reunited with the Acadian paramedics and a first-aid volunteer who helped save his life.
For Staples, it meant another ride over Tiger Stadium in the same chopper he rode in after the Tennessee game - though this time he took the trip with his eyes open.
When Staples had his heart attack, Acadian paramedic Martin Lustig had to carry a Lifepak 12 defibrillator, which weighs twice as much as an AED, from the trauma center all the way to the top of Tiger Stadium.
Now, with an AED at each aid station, the volunteers can administer a shock to cardiac-arrest victims and jumpstart their hearts in a matter of minutes. Lustig said he has dealt with at least one heart attack in each of the four games this season in Tiger Stadium.
Mickey Sharp is the volunteer who raced to help Staples in 2005. Sharp, who has worked as a first-aid volunteer at Tiger Stadium for more than 10 years, checked Staples’ vital signs and administered CPR.
He said he thought Staples’ chance of survival was slim. But after Lustig arrived with the Lifepak defibrillator, they got his heart started and flew him out of the stadium in the helicopter to avoid the heavy game-day traffic.
Staples attributed his cardiac arrest to a long, hot day spent tailgating and watching the game, though Taylor joked Friday that a winning overtime score by Tennessee probably didn’t help, either.
Staples’ extended hospital stay kept him from attending LSU’s next football game, against Mississippi State. But Staples, who planned his wedding in 1980 to coincide with an open week for LSU football, wasn’t going to let his heart stop him from missing too many games.
Two weeks later he was on the road to the Vanderbilt game in Nashville armed with a defibrillator on loan from Acadian. He made the rest of the home games that season.
“I didn’t hardly miss a game,” he said.