The basketball world was rocked on Tuesday by the shocking news of Bronny James suffering a cardiac arrest during practice at USC. Bronny is thankfully in stable condition now, thanks, in part, to the staff at USC, who acted quickly to help the teenager.
It was actually the second year in a row that they had to rush to action to save an athlete during a workout. Vince Iwuchukwu, a five-star freshman last year, had suffered a cardiac arrest in July of 2022 and it was the quick action of the staff on that day that saved his life, as relayed by the LA Times.
“Then, midway through that July workout, Iwuchukwu came down with a rebound and something didn’t look right to Eric Mobley,” via the LA Times. “The assistant coach watched closely as Iwuchukwu ran down the court in transition. He saw something in the freshman’s eyes that worried him.”
Mobley relayed the information to head coach Andy Enfield who checked up on the youngster when the session had stopped for a water break. Iwuchukwu kept getting dizzier as time went by, though and his conversation with Enfield didn’t progress much before his consciousness started fading. When his eyes started rolling back in his head, Mobley knew just how serious it was.
He kept yelling at the youngster and shook him in an attempt to reach him. They then quickly managed to get the automated external defibrillator (AED) and brought in the right staff to save Iwuchukwu while sending the rest of the players into the locker room.
“Three USC trainers — Yonamine, Erin Tillman and Lauren Crawford — all converged around Iwuchukwu within 45 seconds of his collapse, Enfield estimates. Time, in that moment, was precious. Yonamine unwrapped the AED, while Tillman, the women’s basketball trainer, and Crawford, the women’s volleyball trainer, administered CPR. They attached the pads from the AED to Iwuchukwu’s chest. The device measured his heart‘s rhythm and determined a shock was needed.”
While all this went on, Mobley desperately continued to try and wake him up and miraculously, the message got through.
“I just kept following that voice,” Iwuchukwu said. “He was saying, ‘Vince, come back! Come back! Come back!’ Then I heard, ‘Vince, don’t die on me!’ And I was like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’”
The thought of being in grave danger hadn’t dawned on him until that moment: “I was like, ‘I gotta wake up now,’” Iwuchukwu recalled.
Fortunately, all is well now and Iwuchukwu even returned to practice later in the year. His debut for USC came against Colorado on the 12th of January and he played five minutes in that game. His season ended with him playing 14 games while averaging 5.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG.
Hopefully, Bronny can also get back on the court as Iwuchukwu did, and this doesn’t derail his dream of making it to the NBA.
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