My 17 year old son Matthew, a student at Kimball Union Academy (KUA), went into Cardiac Arrest on October 18, 2006, following a routine football practice.  His heart stopped.  He had no pulse.  Luckily for Matt (family and friends), Kimball Union Academy was prepared.  Our story has a happy ending.   CPR was administered almost immediately, and the school had a defibrillator out on an adjacent field which was delivered to him within minutes.  If not for the heroic acts of the trainers, nurse, and those around him - Matt would not be with us today.

When we first arrived at the hospital, Matt was non responsive and remained that way for approximately 10 hours.  When he did regain consciousness, he experienced some short term memory loss.  He was in the hospital for 8 days, but only remembers the last 2 vaguely.  Today he has fully recovered and is on a mission.  He wants to make sure that others who experience SCA have the same advantage for survival that he had. 

Since his SCA 3 short months ago, he has worked very hard to raise awareness to the important need of having AED's accessible at all school buildings and athletic events.  He has been on several local TV stations and newspapers and was featured in an AP article by David Tirrell-Wysocki that appeared nationally over Thanksgiving weekend. 

Matt's school has since expanded their AED Program through a grant made possible through the initiative of an alumnus and the generosity of an anonymous foundation.  Matt also contributed by donating an AED to the school for saving his life!  They now have a total of 6 in place.

Through the generosity of Zoll, Matt and KUA staff produced an educational video which describes Matt's rescue and emphasizes the importance of an AED Program.    The video was developed to help spread the word that AED Programs do work and a life can be saved!  The video may be viewed at www.zoll.com .

In his hometown of Berlin and surrounding communities, Matt helped raise $20,000.  Enough to purchase 14 Zoll AED Plus Units for the Berlin and Gorham School District buildings and athletic events.

On Monday, January 22, Matt and State Senator Peter Burling, who has been at the forefront of Matt's campaign, met with Governor Lynch, who has pledged his commitment to support Matt in his awareness building campaign and will be reviewing a proposed bill that Matt and Senator Burling presented to him.

Matt realizes how fortunate he is to have a second chance in life and is making the most of it.  We count our blessings every day that he is still in our lives.  For more information about Matt, you may go the school website at www.kua.org, click on news, then Matt's Mission.     

Edwina Keene