MILLCREEK, Utah — The son of NBA star LeBron James is in the hospital after suffering cardiac arrest and collapsing on the court.
Bronny James, the 18-year-old freshman guard at the University of Southern California, was practicing Monday when it happened.
His family says he is now out of the intensive care unit and is in stable condition.
For Wilson McConkie, it's a situation he dealt with just six months ago.
"We were in the last minute of the game, and he called me from the court," said McConkie.
He was coaching his 13-year-old son, Christian, in a recreational basketball game back in January at the Farr West Recreation Center.
That's when McConkie, who is an assistant principal at Fairfield Junior High in Kaysville, noticed something wasn't right.
"I pulled him off the floor and was sitting him down on the bench and he collapsed," said McConkie.
Christian then went into cardiac arrest.
Several people came to his aid, including an off-duty Weber County EMT.
"He helped assess, he started compressions," said McConkie.
He said paramedics arrived and used an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
Christian was first taken to Ogden Regional Medical Center before being airlifted to Primary Children's Hospital, where he spent a week.
"I did have moments there where I thought, you know, 'Wow... I might have said goodbye to him already,'" said McConkie.
Christian ultimately had open heart surgery to remove a subaortic membrane.
On Tuesday, McConkie said several people reached out to him after hearing about Bronny James.
"I felt a lot of compassion for what that must have felt like," said McConkie.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 356,000 people have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States every year.
The CDC says about 60% to 80% of those people die before reaching the hospital.
"Cardiac arrest potentially will cause this loss of consciousness, and you need to activate 911 immediately," said Dr. Filip Roos, the chief medical officer for MountainStar Healthcare. "Cardiac arrest is a situation where the function of the heart stops. That means the heart is unable to generate pressure and forward flow of blood that would go to the rest of the body."
Roos said cardiac arrest differs from someone having a heart attack.
"Heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is a situation where a portion of the heart muscle is in the process of dying because it doesn't get enough blood and oxygen because vessel that supplies the region is blocked," he said.
As for McConkie, six months after his son went into cardiac arrest, he says Christian is doing great and ready to get back into sports.
"He's wanting to play fall lacrosse, and so just trying to get him in and his heart in shape for that," said McConkie.
The CDC lists several signs that a person may be in cardiac arrest:
- Collapse suddenly and lose consciousness (pass out).
- Are not breathing or are gasping for air.
- Don’t respond to shouting or shaking.
- Don’t have a pulse.
