ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — A West Michigan nurse's story has gone viral after saving someone's life at a football game. Her experience kicked in twice in the span of 15 minutes.
Now she hopes her story can encourage others to learn the basics of CPR that could potentially save someone else.
A registered nurse with Corewell Health in St. Joseph, Erin Mender, was attending a football game in Alabama when a medical emergency happened right next to her.
"This gentleman had passed out, hit his head, and he had an abrasion on his forehead," Mender recalled of the first emergency.
It was October 26th. She remembers it as a 90 degree day at the top of Bryant Denny Stadium where Alabama was playing Missouri.
She helped the man first man until the EMTs got there to the top of the stands.
Her life saving work however, wasn't over.
"I was walking back up, and somebody grabbed me and said, there's another medical emergency up there."
It was one of the EMTs who had responded to the first guy.
"I shook him and was like, sir, sir, and there was no response from him."
His eyes rolled into the back of his head; he was pale and unconscious.
"I was feeling for a pulse," her muscle memory kicking in. "I did not feel one. I called out for a second pulse check.
Remember, all this was happening with a college football game going on below them.
"It was so loud, so chaotic. We laid him flat, and I started CPR on the bleachers."
A full minute went by until she got a pulse.
"He sat up, and he started talking to me," she shared. "He was coherent. It was very, very emotional."
A viral Instagram video captured those emotions Mender says people don't always get to see in a hospital setting, but she says there's more to the story.
"When they are in a situation out in public and they see somebody in medical distress, only 10% of people will help," Mender shared statistics. "The greater message is, I want to raise that bystander effect number from 10% even if it goes up to 12%, I want people to feel confident in these situations."
She says she's thankful the video went viral because she connected with the first guy she helped, but she says she would still love to be able to talk with the EMT she saved as well.
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