«Luckily we had followed the course. Of course, applying the defibrillator to a dummy is not the same, but we managed it.” Saving their friend’s life. To tell what happened is Stefano Vitali, 44 years old, who together with William Lamera, 24 years oldwho spoke at the Cividate Sports Center on Saturday to the aid of a 45-year-old friend of theirs from the Cividate Oratory football teamwhich competes in the Csi amateur championship.
The 45-year-old fell ill in the locker room
The forty-five-year-old was struck by a very serious illness and is hospitalized Civil hospitals of Brescia where, in the night between Saturday and Sunday, he was operated on. He is in intensive care, where he will have to stay for three days but, despite being in serious condition, his life is no longer in danger. What is certain is that he got through thanks to the prompt intervention of Vitali, assistant coach of the Cividate Oratory, and of Lamera, who on Saturday afternoon during the football match against Urgnano, was the person in charge of the AED (Automatic Defibrillator ) owned by the football club.
«We immediately understood that it was the beginning of a heart attack. This is how we acted.”
The 45-year-old footballer felt ill around 6.30pm after the game was over, when he was already in the locker room and was getting dressed after the shower. «When we saw him feel ill – says Vitali – thanks to the indications they had given us at the course on the use of AED and first aid held a year ago, we immediately understood that it was the beginning of a heart attack. So we acted. We couldn’t make him lie on the floor because he was wet and, in those conditions, they couldn’t put the defibrillator on him. So we had him lie down on a table and, while I started the cardiac massage, William ran to get the AED.
The story of the companions who saved him
«It was the first time we had rescued a person – continues Vitali –. During the course I thought that if this ever happened to me, I would be very upset. Instead, in the end, both William and I kept calm and just thought about what to do.” After the Dae discharge, the player was subjected to cardiac massage by his two friends for another five minutes until the 112 staff arrived at the Sports Centre, who in the meantime had been promptly alerted.
«In the end, both William and I kept calm and only thought about what we should do»
Once the conditions were stabilised, the forty-five-year-old was loaded onto the air ambulance which landed nearby and transported to the Civil Hospitals of Brescia. Before leaving, the 112 rescuers thanked Vitali and Lamera for what they had done: «It’s true. They told us that what we did was fundamental – concludes Vitali –. However, the most important thing now is that our friend recovers as soon as possible».
Tags: save friend defibrillator
