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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Any headline about a local kid suffering sudden cardiac arrest playing high school football should justifiably worry any parent who is considering whether or not their son should participate in the sport.
A similar concern over concussions and the impact of that injury on developing brains has also caused some hesitation from parents before signing their kids up for sports over the last decade.
But one parent who would encourage kids to keep participating in extracurricular activities is Dave Davis -- the father of Hollidaysburg sophomore Spencer Davis, who five weeks ago suffered sudden cardiac arrest during a Golden Tigers practice and nearly died.
"Any time your kid gets involved in extracurricular activities, there's a risk," Dave Davis said. "But there's also a reward too. There's so many things that come out of participation in school athletics with self esteem and building social networking and groups. I wouldn't want kids to not play football because of this one situation, just because it's so unlikely to happen. But it is imperative that coaches and people are trained and able to respond so they have the same outcome."
Davis' son survived one of the most catastrophic injuries imaginable and was back in school less than a month later, thanks to being in a school district that was prepared, an athletic trainer in Amy Smearman who is excellent at her job and coaches that went the extra mile in learning CPR.
"You have no idea if it's going to be used or not," Hollidaysburg assistant coach Joe Montrella said. "I think in general, people think you will never have to do it, especially on a kid. You might think you need to do it on an older adult that has some heart issues, not a kid. But you want to be able to do everything you can in your power if you ever need to use it."
Following the Davis scare, plenty of parents have put themselves in the shoes of the Hollidaysburg family -- which likely wouldn't have happened if the only awareness of that type of situation remained when NFL player Damar Hamlin suffered sudden cardiac arrest on the field in January of 2023.
"You never think it's going to be your son," Dave Davis said. "You never think it's going to be someone you know or someone in your community."
More important than raising awareness that it could happen to a local family, the medical emergency should have caught the attention of all of the area's school districts.
Hollidaysburg football coach and athletic director Homer DeLattre sent out copies of his school's emergency response plan to all of the area's ADs in the days after the incident, and hopefully many schools are in the process of updating their plans and putting financial resources toward medical training and the purchase of additional automated external defibrillators, like the one that helped save Spencer's life.
But even for someone trained in CPR who helped save a life like Montrella, who has three kids including a son who plays seventh-grade football, sending their child onto the field after what happened brings up a lot of emotions.
"Man, that's a tough one," Montrella said. "It definitely makes you think twice. I'll just say that."
Ultimately, it's every family's own choice on what their child participates in, hopefully with plenty of input from the child as well.
"A case like Spencer's is rare," Smearman said. "The stat I had from 2015 was that 7,000 kids under the age of 18 suffered sudden cardiac arrest out of the hospital. You think of how many hundreds of thousands of kids play sports, it is rare. For the general person, it's not overly concerning. It's so rare, it shouldn't be your first worry. Other injuries are much more likely to occur like ankle and knee sprains."
No one, including medical professionals like Smearman, can guarantee safety. But thankfully, Hollidaysburg seems to be leading the charge in making sure the chances of the best possible outcome are more likely than not.
Michael Boytim can be reached at mboytim@altoonamirror.com or 814-946-7521. Follow him on X @BoytimMichael.
CPR Awareness
Hollidaysburg Area Senior High school will be hosting a sudden cardiac death and CPR awareness community event on Thursday, Nov. 14 from 5:30 until 8 p.m.
The event, which will be held in the gymnasium, is free for community members to attend.
The event is in honor of Hollidaysburg sophomore Spencer Davis, a survivor of sudden cardiac arrest, and there will be a keynote speaker and SAVE ceremony at 6:30.