Quick-Acting Bystanders and AED Access Save Referee’s Life
By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor
Photo courtesy of Chad Butcher – Alison Mims (right) assisted in response efforts when Chad Butcher (left) experienced a widow–maker heart attack while refereeing a middle school basketball game. Mims and Butcher connected after the incident, and she visited him while he recovered in the hospital.
A tragedy was averted at the November 18th Dade Middle School versus Jasper Middle School basketball games when Dade fans and the Jasper vice principal jumped into action to save the referee’s life.
Until a little over a year ago, Chad Butcher was a Catholic monk. After leaving the monastery, he focused on improving his health, lost about 155 pounds, got married, and became a referee. He said, “One of my goals was to become a referee, but I was badly overweight.” On November 18th, he was enjoying working as a referee while his stepson watched the games from the stands.
The girls’ varsity and JV teams played before the boys teams, and Butcher noted that while he felt just a little out of shape during the initial games, he wasn’t in pain and there weren’t any alarming warning signs. The varsity boys game began, and Butcher recalled, “I remember handing the ball in and trailing behind the players, and that’s the last thing I remember before I woke up on the floor.”
Alison Mims, who happens to be a nurse anesthetist, was there to watch her son play for Dade and take photos of the games. While looking through her camera, a commotion on the court brought the game to a halt just a few minutes after play began. Looking out from behind the camera, Mims saw Butcher lying on the ground and hurried toward him.
Several other Dade fans with nursing experience had already gathered around Butcher when Mims reached him. She said that they turned him on his side to help him breathe before one of the nurses realized that he didn’t have a pulse. They returned him to his back, and Jasper Middle Vice Principal Kasey Woodlee was ready with an AED (automated external defibrillator).
Woodlee explained, “I had chatted with Mr. Butcher during the JV game. With him being a former coach, we talked about basketball, colleges, etc. I gave his stepson a hard time for wearing a Georgia sweatshirt. During the varsity game, I was standing almost straight across from where Mr. Butcher fell. I immediately ran for the AED to give to the Dade County people who were already starting CPR.”
The crew used the AED, shocked Butcher once, and Mims administered chest compressions. She said that he came back but was still in and out. “He could hear us but couldn’t talk to us.” When Butcher was able to speak again, the first thing he said was “Where’s my son?”
“When I woke up, I wasn’t in any pain,” explained Butcher. He thought that he’d simply passed out. “I was confused. I remember hearing the AED talking, and I thought they must’ve thought something bad was going on if they had grabbed the AED.”
Butcher said that his 12-year-old stepson handled the situation very maturely. “He was really calm. He called my husband and told him that they were doing CPR on me.” Twelve minutes after the 911 call, the ambulance arrived.
Mims explained that first responders, nurses, and doctors handle situations like these all the time. She said, “ I just did what I was taught to do,” but facing an unexpected emergency situation in public is different from being in hospital. Butcher said, “You call her Alison; I call her my angel.”
Woodlee added, “Being a former physical education teacher, I felt trained because we are thoroughly trained through our Central Office Staff each year. Being in the actual moment though was different, but so many of the techniques that I did not realize I would remember came back to me.”
Having heard stories about dead batteries or AEDs that didn’t function properly when needed, Butcher thanked the Jasper administration for not only having an AED accessible but also keeping it maintained.
Mims noted how far the basics of CPR can go when trying to save a life and the importance of AEDs. “The AED is essentially what saved his life, and the fact that it was there and accessible. I think people are more knowledgeable about AEDs these days.”
At age 43, Butcher experienced a widowmaker heart attack with a 100 percent blockage in his left anterior descending (LAD) artery and another 99 percent blockage. He reported that while he is still in the 90-day recovery period, he is on track to make a full recovery. He has already returned to his payroll clerk job at Covenant Transport.
After the ambulance left with Butcher, Woodlee gathered the players and coaches in the middle of the court to pray for him. The rest of the day’s games were rescheduled for December 9th here at Dade, where Butcher was in attendance to show his thanks and support to both teams.
Mims said, “Everybody who was there that day handled themselves well. Everybody took the role that they were supposed to.”
Photo courtesy of Chad Butcher – At their first game after Chad Butcher’s heart attack, the Dade Middle School varsity boys basketball team wore blue armbands to honor Butcher.
Woodlee added, “I am so thankful for the quick response of the Dade County fans. This was a total team effort. We came in as opponents before the game started, Dade versus Jasper Middle and also several fans decked out in that ugly Georgia red to most of our fans in the beautiful Tennessee orange, yet we quickly all became the same team to save a life. I talk to Mr. Butcher daily and am so glad to have gained a good friend.”
Readers who’ve followed along with recent Dade County Commission meetings may recall that the county is discussing AED placement at the Dade County Sports Complex. Emergency Management Agency Director Alex Case has explained the goal of having AEDs easily accessible at all highly-trafficked government property.
Like Jasper, all Dade schools are equipped with AEDs. Jeremy Roerdink (director of federal programs and safety) wrote, “Every school, including the Central Office, has at least one AED. The schools have multiple defibrillators in them ranging from ‘fixed’ wall mounted units in high traffic areas to ‘to go’ units that are utilized by our athletic teams for games that are played at home and away. District protocol is to have an AED available at all sporting events, both home and away.”
Roerdink continued, “The district purchased, with input from the principals, an additional seven AED units this school year (both athletic traveling AEDs and fixed units) with ‘school safety grant funds’ issued from Governor Brian Kemp. With these additional units, I am very confident that we have the coverage needed to assist any person with a cardiac event at Dade County Schools.”
