|
Larry Pontbriant was an energetic, loving, kind and intelligent 15 year old who loved his family, friends and sports, especially lacrosse. One of his best athletic assets was his fine conditioning which he accomplished through distance running. Larry collapsed right in front of us, his parents, and friends during a community three mile fun run at Mohegan Park in his hometown of Norwich, Connecticut, on August 16th, 2007, from a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). He had no known medical problems. 911 was called and CPR begun. When the ambulance arrived on scene, his heart was in ventricular fibrillation, just quivering, so EMTs used their Automated External Defibrillator or AED to shock Larry's heart to return to a more normal rhythm, which it did. He was eventually transported to Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford where he died three days later. Tragically, too much time had elapsed between Larry's collapse and the shock from the AED.
At the Medical Center, tests could not determine why Larry's heart had gone into ventricular fibrillation, causing the cardiac arrest (there are many causes of death from SCA in young athletes; unfortunately, most are found only at autopsy). What ultimately led to Larry's death was lack of sufficient oxygen to the brain, causing it to swell. Once the brain begins to swell, the process does not stop, snuffing out blood flow to the brain, causing brain damage, brain death and, ultimately, death. We found out at the Medical Center that even under the best conditions, CPR, though necessary, can be only 25% efficient at pumping enough blood to the brain in SCA; the body needs the strong pump of the heart to accomplish that. The shock from an AED can get the heart to resume more normal pumping, thereby reversing an SCA, but this must be done soon after a collapse because with every passing minute, the chances of survival decrease by 10%. Since brain damage from lack of oxygen can occur in as little as 4 to 6 minutes and ambulance arrival times can vary due to location of victim, traffic, poor directions, etc., having an on-site AED made the most sense to us. Consequently, The Larry Pontbriant Athletic Safety Fund was formed in honor of our son, Larry.
The goal of The Larry Pontbriant Athletic Safety Fund is to raise awareness about Sudden Cardiac Arrest, encourage training in CPR and the use of an AED, and to raise funds for the purchase of AEDs for schools and athletic fields. We never once thought that a Sudden Cardiac Arrest could happen to our son and that SCA in young athletes was very rare until it happened to Larry. For your sake and the sake of your children, do a little research on Sudden Cardiac Arrest, especially in young athletes, after all, SCA can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. This website will document our experiences in the hope that someday, somewhere, someone will get a second chance at life because an individual recognized a cardiac arrest was occurring, could perform CPR effectively and had access to an AED.
Larry and Evelyn Pontbriant,
Larry's Mom and Dad
|