SPOKANE, Wash. — Most days, Heather Gant of Spokane follows a familiar routine. Same coffee, same grocery store, same drive home.
But last week, a simple decision to take a different route changed everything.
Heather had left her home to buy eggs. She returned a hero.
“I just saw someone laying in the road with a bike right next to them, and I could see he was right in the middle of the crosswalk,” Heather said.
Near Shadle Park, that boy was 13-year-old Derick, and what Heather didn’t know at the time was that he was having a heart attack.
“I had my hand on his chest, and I think that’s what strikes me the most. This healthy, strong boy — he’s supposed to be full of life — and I could just feel like this isn’t right.”
Derick is the same age as Heather’s stepson, a fact that weighed heavily on her as she began CPR.
“Amazingly enough, I remembered right where to put my hands, I remembered the pressure. And with the help of the dispatcher giving me instructions — because I think there was a little fear there — I just started compressions.”
Though it had been decades since she’d learned CPR, Heather acted instinctively. Along the way, she had help from a woman who dialed 911, a nurse who later stopped to help, and heroic first responders.
In the hospital, Derick’s mother, Lia, struggled to process what had happened.
“I wouldn’t — I couldn’t — imagine him not being here. I just hugged her and thanked her. He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her,” said Lia.
“To have his mom step aside and see him standing there, grinning at me — I’ll never forget it,” Heather said.
Doctors still don’t know what caused Derick, a healthy teenager, to suffer a cardiac event. He now wears a medical alert tag as a precaution.
What is clear, is that Heather was the right person in the right place at the right time. Her CPR training — and courage — helped to save his life.
“I’m grateful to have been a piece to that puzzle that got him back to his feet,” she said.
Both families are now urging others to take CPR classes and be willing to act in emergencies.
If you see something, say something. Don’t be a bystander.
Local CPR courses are available through the Spokane Fire Department, Spokane Valley Fire, Providence Health, the American Red Cross and other providers. Many offer online options. You can take a class in as quickly as a few hours, or a few days.
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