El Capitan High coaches spring to action to help player who suddenly collapses

It may look like a regular day of practice for the El Capitan High School Boys Varsity team, but a major part of the team was missing out on the court. On Nov. 11, senior Andy Gerardo-Novelo suddenly collapsed during practice, and assistant coach John Curo was the first one to get to his side.
“I was the one that performed CPR on him, gave him chest compressions, and within three minutes, the sheriffs were here,” Curo says. “And within five minutes, the paramedics were here. So everything happened really fast, and I was lucky to be here.”
Meanwhile, head coach Sahil Alami also rushed to call 9-1-1, clearly recognizing that time was of the essence.
“I have never experienced something like this,” Coach Alami explains. “I’ve never been put into a situation where I’d have to react to that severity.”
It was a moment they, as coaches, both trained for but never thought they’d ever experience.
“I would never expect something like this to happen to us,” says Alami.
It’s tough for them and the entire team, including Marcus Gonzalez.
“In my head, I was thinking like, you know, this might be the last time I see him; I have never been in something like this,” he says.
And things could’ve gotten worse quickly.
“Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time for him,” Curo says.
According to a report by the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in the United States, taking the lives of more than 350,000 annually.
About 39% of sudden cardiac arrests in people under the age of 18 are sports-related.
Less than 10% of sudden cardiac arrest victims don’t survive because bystanders were unprepared to respond to a cardiac emergency.
“The doctors had his family relay a message to us saying that we saved his life and that it’s a miracle that he’s still with us,” says Alami.
“Very lucky that I was there to lend a hand and do what I could for him,” says Curo.
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has been set up for the family.