Positivity: Jogger is alive because strangers knew CPR
Article Launched: 01/28/2008 02:08:48 AM PST
Claire Welgan could have been jogging anywhere that morning nine days ago. But she chose the Los Gatos Creek Trail - and that just might have saved her life.
She was jogging alone there Jan. 18 when her heart stopped. She crashed so hard to the ground that her face bled. That’s when Nicole Eden and Leslie Eichler saw her.
They felt her pulse. She wasn’t breathing. They rolled her over. And for the next seven nerve-racking minutes, they prayed and administered CPR on the 23-year-old Welgan.
“It was really frightening to know that her life could end right in front of me,” said Eichler, 30, a San Jose educator and mother. “I felt so responsible for her that moment, even though she was a complete stranger.”
Paramedics soon arrived and Welgan was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where doctors said she suffered from ventricular fibrillation - a condition in which the heart fails to adequately pump blood.
“My daughter is alive thanks to these women,” said Dennis Welgan, speaking on behalf of his daughter. His daughter remains hospitalized and is suffering from short-term memory loss. She remembers little to nothing from that day, he said.
But for Eden and Eichler it remains a stark memory.
Though trained in CPR, neither Eden nor Eichler had ever applied the technique - at least not to save someone. Eichler said she was certified years ago because it was required of her as an educator. “I realize now it’s more than just a requirement, it can save a person’s life,” Eichler said.
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