On October 13, 2011 our 9 year old son suffered a sudden cardiac arrest whilst playing football at his school in Zug.

Since the age of 3 our son has been suffering from periodic faintings, occurring 2-4 times per year. During the years he has been examined in great detail by some of the best cardiologists in Switzerland, England and Denmark. After approximately 4 years of tests and monitoring, the conclusion was that his faintings were innocent and that he would grow out of this condition.

As parents this was great news, and we never suspected that he was carrying a potential fatal condition. In fact, we had never heard of Sudden Cardiac Arrest, let alone an AED.

On October 13, 2011 our lives changed forever. Not only did we not know if our son would survive, we did not know in which condition he would be if he woke up from the coma.

But we had all the luck you can imagine on this crucial day, because one of the parents watching the football practise was a nurse from an intensive care unit and she (assisted by my wife) performed vital emergency life support in the form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to our son until the rescue ambulance and Rega helicopter arrived. Not until the 3rd shock from the rescue team’s AED, did he regain a consistent heartbeat. The initial response and the AED without doubt saved our son’s life! ....but regrettably most parents will not be as lucky as we were on that October day.

After many tense days and nights in intensive care during the initial recovery and tests, our son underwent open heart surgery performed by Professor René Prêtre and his team in Kinderspital Zürich, and we are eternally grateful to all of the skilled doctors and nurses who have cared for and continue to care for our son and our family during the period to recovery.