CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — A Pitt athlete from Mechanicsburg made a lifesaving move to help her father who’d fallen into cardiac arrest.
Her knowledge and bravery even earned her the “Heart Hero Award” from Damar Hamlin, a former Pitt athlete and current Buffalo Bills football safety!
It all happened on Christmas Day…
While many children were hoping to get that one big gift from Santa, Ellie Breech had a different hope; to save her father Ed, who was suffering from hypoxia, leading to cardiac arrest.
“My dad was on a very soft couch bed; I pulled him onto the hard floor to immediately give him compressions. I didn’t really have to check for a pulse or anything because it was obvious he needed immediate CPR,” Ellie said.
A scary situation but the college goalie had no fear in her mind, handling it like a pro!
“I couldn’t let the fear of what’s going to happen to my dad get in the way of what needed to be done”, said Ellie.
For a total of nine minutes, Breech performed CPR, the type of work doctors say would typically require five trained healthcare workers.
“She did effective compressions over a thousand repetitions until EMS arrived on the scene,” said UPMC Dr. Matthew Zaccheo.
Ellie’s years of athletic training (which improved her breathing and kept her in shape), mixed with her CPR training inspired by Buffalo Bill’s Damar Hamlin created the perfect recipe!
“I don’t even have words for it, it’s just remarkable. I’ve always been very proud of her, but this one is an exceptional event,” Ellie’s dad said.
The Pitt goalie’s heroic moves also earned her an award from Hamlin.
Now serving as a role model for others both on and off the field. Luckily, this week she was able to walk right by her dad’s side in an emotional reunion with the doctors who have been there since the very beginning.
Each year in the U.S. more than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of the hospital, according to the American Heart Association, but Ed’s situation was particularly unique.
UPMC officials deploying a multi-specialty to initiate ECMO, a machine that provides both circulatory and respiratory support in severe heart or lung failures.
Ed was the team’s first ECMO cannulation!
“Everything just kind of came together perfectly, and I was just lucky that they could pull the ECMO on me because I was not going to make it out,” said Ed.
Doctors say Ellie’s ability to do solid compressions and CPR took her dad’s chances of survival from less than 10% to over 30% creating the first chain of links for his survival Dr. Zaccheo says.
“I was dead. I mean really, I was purple stenotic blue, pulseless, and Ellie saved my life,” Ed said.
As you know by now, life can throw a lot of curve balls and lead you into unexpected situations.
Ellie, Ed, and UPMC doctors are encouraging you to take CPR classes and there are several offered in Central PA so whenever you have some spare time you should check it out.