A Utah teen is recovering after suffering sudden cardiac arrest while working out in the weight room at Sky View High School.
“The emergency took place in the weight room at Sky View High School,” said Jenda Nye, director of communications for the Cache County School District, in a written statement obtained by KSLTV. “Other students and staff were present at the time. A staff member attended to the student until emergency personnel arrived.”
Dean Philips, 16, had just come out of a front squat and racked the bar when he began seizing. He then fell to the ground unconscious and stopped breathing, according to Lindsey Preece, a close family friend.
Preece said Phillips’ friends rushed to get the athletic trainer, who used an automated external defibrillator to restart his heart. He was then transported to McKay-Dee Hospital and then taken by a medical helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital, where he was sedated and intubated in the ICU that night.
On Tuesday afternoon last week, Preece said Phillips’ condition began to improve, and he came out of sedation and was talking to his parents and asking questions about what happened.
