It was the last 30 seconds of the Ganesha High School football team’s game against rival La Puente High School in October. An already high-intensity game at that point, it became more intense at the very end.
Not because of a play on the field, but rather Ganesha head coach Don Cayer collapsing on the sideline.
“It was the last second of the game, so I just hear one of the coaches call me and say, ‘Ariel, coach Cayer is down!'” Ganesha athletic trainer Ariel Castro told theRams.com. “So I turn around, he’s on the ground. He first started off with what looked like was a seizure. So we put him on his side, and he was seizing for a few minutes. We activated our emergency plan, and we called for the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and rescue team, and called 911 as well. And he was still just with us for a little bit, just seizing, and we were waiting for him to come out of it. And then all of a sudden, his heart just stopped.
“So we prepared him to get the AED on him. I was managing vitals for him while I started having the EMTs open up the AED and get started with the compressions, just to make sure that we had all the equipment that we needed, the air mask and everything, to help with breathing. And then we performed CPR for probably about five minutes. Then he came back, and the paramedics arrived and we sent him, and sure enough, he had a heart attack, but he pulled through. So, very intense moment, but it all worked out.”
Cayer survived that heart attack and has been recovering since then, thanks to the actions of Cayer and first-responders on-site that day. Those actions are why the Rams in November surprised Castro with tickets to Super Bowl LVIII, which will take place this Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Rams Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance Reggie Scott, who surprised Castro with the Super Bowl tickets at the team’s facility in Thousand Oaks, said the three factors that made the biggest difference in saving Cayer’s life were the appropriate resources (especially the AED), the proper plan and the proper personnel – Castro is a certified athletic trainer.
“Having AEDs in every secondary school, on our level, college level, is critical,” Scott told theRams.com. “So we knew how important it is to have the right resources and tools that you need to be successful in those areas. Two, emergency action plans. Being prepared in those situations by rehearsing those situations…
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