A month after suffering cardiac arrest during basketball training, a teenage prodigy from Melbourne is making a remarkable recovery.
Jasper Wickes, 16, collapsed and started seizing during a session at Hoop Culture in Carrum Downs, witnessed by a stunned crowd. He had no previously diagnosed medical conditions, and his coach Hayden Jardine immediately recognised something was wrong.
Jardine performed mouth-to-mouth on Wickes while checking his heart rate and calling triple-0. GoodSAM app user Jess Purcell arrived and performed chest compressions on Wickes until paramedics arrived.
Wickes was fitted with a pacemaker a few days after the incident and spent 15 days in hospital. He has since been discharged and returned to training, with Jardine handing over the reins to him as coach.
Wickes said he felt very supported, and was thankful for the help he received. His mother Simone thanked everyone involved in saving her son’s life, including Fire Rescue Victoria, Advanced Life Support paramedics, and Ambulance Victoria Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedics and MICA student Chloe Abel.
Abel said Wickes was incredibly lucky that everything aligned to save his life. She added that Wickes had shown good signs of stability after his cardiac arrest and had made a quick recovery.