Arizona teen saves man’s life by performing CPR
CHANDLER, Ariz. (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - An Arizona teen working at a golf course suddenly found himself being tested.
A man collapsed and the teen performed CPR until help arrived.
The teen knew what to do after learning the technique in school only one month earlier.
When Gabe Castro arrives for work at Lone Tree Golf Club, his duties include stocking driving range balls, wiping down golf clubs and prepping carts, but his recent actions inside the course's grill have landed him a new title: Hero.
"He collapsed in his chair and I ran over," Castro shared.
He says in December, a man sitting at the course bar fell to the ground.
When Castro saw he wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse, he immediately began administering CPR.
"I started giving him chest compressions," Castro said.
The youngster worked on the man while others fetched an AED.
No panic to his moves, just the beat of the 1980s hit "Nine to Five," pumping the man's heart to that song for 12 minutes in an attempt to save his life.
"When you do CPR, beats should be a hundred to hundred and twenty beats per minute and that's what that song is," Castro explained.
That's when he started breathing.
"He took that breath, I also took that breath, it was just a big sigh of relief," Castro expressed.
A month earlier, the Perry High School sophomore learned the life-saving technique in his sports medicine class.
"Crazy! I'm obviously very, very proud," said Allyson Romero, Castro's teacher.
Romero says the course covers anatomy, injury treatment, and nutrition, but also real-world lifesaving skills like CPR.
"He was very quiet about it and I was like, 'You deserve to be recognized,'" Romero remarked.
The Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) made sure of that, awarding him the "And Then Some" Award in January.
Since then, Castro and the man he saved have reunited, sharing a warm embrace, which he says is all the reward he needs.
If you'd like to learn how to do CPR, the American Red Cross offers online and in-person classes.
