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Dad keeps fighting for defibrillators to save lives

11 years ago this week, 11-year-old Chase McEachern's heart gave out - and his dad still rallies the team to save lives with defibrillators in public spaces.
AutomatedExternalDefibrillator
First aid cardiopulmonary resuscitation course using automated external defibrillator device, AED. File photo

Just get it done.

That’s what 11-year-old rep hockey player Chase McEachern would say – whether he was encouraging his team to have a great game or urging his father to get defibrillators in schools, recreation centres and other public buildings.

A defibrillator could have saved his life after he collapsed as he lined up for gym class on Feb. 9, 2006 at Prince of Wales Public School.

It could have increased his odds of recovering from an atrial flutter, an abnormally fast heart rhythm.

Instead, he passed away Feb. 15, 2006.

“He does keep us going. Back then, we’d said he make a positive out of a negative,” said John McEachern, as he recalled Chase’s enthusiasm for sports and teamwork.

“He was 100 per cent hockey, 100 per cent sports. He loved teamwork.”

If he had survived, he would be 22 today.

The McEacherns discovered Chase’s medical vulnerability after he played football at recess. He got into a solid tackle and was hit in the chest with the ball. As he came inside and lined up for gym class, he collapsed.

“It was a freak accident,” recalled his father John. “His heart was beating around 300 beats per minute. He was flown to Sick Kids by air. There was no rhyme or reason (for the condition).”

But Chase wasn’t going to let that interfere with his drive to keep playing sports.

And he knew that an automated external defibrillator (AED) could save his life, if the school had one. He launched an awareness campaign and wrote a letter to Don Cherry, who read it on Coach’s Corner.  Chase envisioned AEDs wherever people gathered or played.

In 2016, AEDs that McEachern’s campaign has put in public buildings saved 29 lives, he said.

They are easy to use  - and effective.

“They’re user friendly and they talk to you and walk you through step by step,” said John, who now works for Rescue 7, a company that offers health and safety training, including how to use an AED.

“If you get an AED on in three minutes, you have an 80 per cent chance of saving that person’s life,” he noted.

He has been advocating for a law requiring an AED be in every public building, as is the case in Manitoba. The Chase McEachern Act came close to being passed, but stalled in second reading; John would like to see it reintroduced as a Private Member’s Bill; it would protect anyone trying to help save a life with a defibrillator from being sued.

There’s nothing as tragic as being a bystander waiting for help to arrive.

“I was working on Dunlop Street with the racing commission. I never expected to get that call. All I heard was ‘He’s collapsed’. The ambulance was there. They were working on him,” John recalled.

“No parent wants to see a child on the floor and being worked on. It’s an image you can’t forget.”

That’s what inspires him to keep advocating for the devices, which allow a bystander to become a first responder.

“It’s part of the chain of life, part of the chain of survival. Call 911, do CPR. It’s all part of saving someone. Doing something is better than nothing.”

As he stressed, time is critical and access to a AED saves lives.

“In a building on the lakeshore, by the time the ambulance gets there and gets to the top floor, what times has elapsed?” said John, stressing every second matters.

So he and a team of volunteers continue to work for the Chase McEachern Memorial Fund to raise money to buy defibrillators to donate to teams, municipalities and community organizations to make their spaces safer.

“It’s all about Chase, all about the defibrillators out there, to raise funds and get more defibrillators out there,” said John, who noted a ski day a few weeks ago brought together people who knew Chase and raised $4,000. The next event is a golf tournament in June.

“We have a list of people wanting defibrillators. I wish we could get them all done,” he said, adding at the ski day, he donated a defibrillator in honour of a fallen OPP officer.

“There’s a lot to be done. It’s a team. Team Chase.”

To find out more or make a donation, visit Rescue 7’s website, which has a page for the Chase McEachern Memorial Fund.