Ed Kosiec

Ed is a Sudden Cardiac Arrest survivor, and SCA awareness advocate. In 2019 Ed suffered cardiac arrest in a Chick-Fil-A in South Florida. He survived because an 18-year-old high school student and Chick-Fil-A employee performed hands-only CPR, keeping Ed alive until paramedics arrived.

This life changing event sparked Ed to create a nonprofit called Every Second Counts CPR. He also pursued educational opportunities to become a certified AHA CPR Instructor and teach CPR. His mission is to spread Sudden Cardiac Arrest awareness to everyone he meets, everywhere he goes.

Ed, with a small grassroots group of heart advocates, went to the Florida State Capital and worked with the legislatures to create a bill that would require all high school students to learn CPR prior to graduating from high school. This bill became a law for the state of Florida (HB157 & SB280). Ed’s survival story was an intricate part of the bill’s success since a high school student provided CPR and saved his life. Now all Florida Public School students are required to attend a CPR training class before graduation. 

In 2021, Ed created the “Great 48 CPR Tour” and traveled to 48 states, teaching CPR in the streets in every single state. While visiting each state, Ed sought out nonprofit organizations and donated AHA CPR Anytime Kits. He shared his story with everyone he met and stressed the importance of learning CPR: It will save a life. Distributing the AHA CPR Anytime Kits has become an annual event. Ed seeks out nonprofit organizations in all 50 states and either visits them or sends them a kit from Every Second Counts to spread CPR Awareness throughout the country.

During National CPR & AED Awareness week in June 2021, Ed also started an annual event in our Nation’s Capital in Washington D.C., called the National CPR and AED Awareness Rally & March. The main focus is to bring Heart Advocates from across the nation together to become ONE voice and bring national attention to the importance of CPR and other heart protocols. He is fighting for laws that will help create a safer environment and will bring an end to Sudden Cardiac Arrest deaths.

Ed was given the best gift anyone could ever receive, a second chance in life, a true miracle. Since the odds of SCA survival are historically low, Ed wants to change those stats and pay it forward by spreading CPR and SCA awareness. Ed’s passion is to educate the nation on the importance of knowing CPR and how it can save a life. SCA Awareness has become his mission in life.