Yorktown Student Lobbies to Albany for CPR Requirement
Less than one third of cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR – but Yorktown High School senior Katarina Weigel is one of those individuals who survived and beat the odds.
Weigel describes herself as a vibrant,healthy girl that nothing bad happens to – until July 15, 2010 when she was at a pre-season volleyball camp for the high school and collapsed, about a minute into exercises.
Her coach, Katy Sherwood, rushed over to her and couldn’t find a pulse. She and another coach, Jeff Wilson, performed CPR until varsity football coach Mike Rescigno, retrieved an automatic external defibrillator (AED). When the AED was just about to say “administer shock,” Weigel convulsed and came back.
At the hospital, Weigel was diagnosed with a rare tachycardia where the heart rate increases in response to physical activity or emotional stress causing the heart to beat irregularly. It can lead to sudden death.
Weigel said it was then that she knew she had to make a difference in life and encourage people that everything is possible. Due to this the doctors told her she had to get an ICD implanted – a combination of a pacemaker and automatic defibrillator. Also, she would have to be put on a beta-blocker for the rest of her life.
“I basically live the same exact life as I did prior to the incident, except I can’t participate on sports teams and I attend more doctor’s appointments,” she said.
Weigel was having difficulties changing to a new routine but very soon learned that there is more to life then sports; now, she says she is just thankful to have her life.
“Being a part of the American Heart Association basically empowers me to be the best that I can possibly be because there are people out there that have it worse than I did and they are waiting for that key answer that the money funded from the AHA can provide them,” she said.
Weigel said her story should show people that they can make a difference even with the slightest thing.
“Doctors said if it weren’t for immediate bystander CPR, I would not be here today,” she said.
Weigel has been a volunteer of the American Heart Association since the fall of 2010. The organization promotes eating healthily and the importance of taking care of your heart as well as your body. It also provides money for research to find the “impossible” answer.
“After suffering a cardiac arrest I just wanted to give back as much as I could to my community,” Weigel said. “Educating the public about what the American Heart Association does is truly the No. 1 priority.”
On May 2, Weigel is going to Albany for lobbying day to talk to senators about the passage of S2491 and A3980 in the state Legislature. The bills make sure that everyone graduating from a New York school knows the skills of CPR and how to use an AED. Recently on February 14, Vermont passed this bill.
Weigel is trying to make the bills passed in New York schools.
“Students should know CPR because the coaches who saved my life made the impossible possible. I think that my story kind of shows how CPR does work and how it can be useful,” she said. “You never know when someone might drop.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.