Positivity: Cummings Coach Thanks Those Who Saved His Life
Last Edited: Monday, 29 Oct 2007, 9:48 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 29 Oct 2007, 9:48 PM EDTThree weeks ago, Andy Hawks collapsed and his heart stopped. On Monday night, as his school’s football team played a game postponed from Friday, the Cummings coach talked about how being at work probably saved his life.
“I started teaching and that’s the last thing I remember,” Hawks recalled. “I remember I had a big knot on the side of my head. They claim I fell and hit my head. Some of the kids said I tried to get up and fell again.”
Hawks wasn’t breathing and his heart wasn’t beating.
A student ran for help, and three coaches and the school nurse administered CPR until paramedics arrived.
Hawks lives on 15 acres in a rural part of Alamance County, and he wonders how things would have turned out if the cardiac event happened at home. “I’d do the same for them … but thank God they were there for me this time,” he said.
It turns out Hawks didn’t have a heart attack. Doctors believe his heart skipped a beat, then stopped.
As the Cummings coach continues to heal, he passes the time by reading the piles of well-wishes that arrive at his house.
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