A Story of Swift Action and Survival: Carter’s Cardiac Arrest

By: Carter Zahn, teen survivor of sudden cardiac arrest

On July 19, 2024, while playing in an AAU basketball tournament in Aurora, Illinois, my heart stopped suddenly, and I collapsed on the court. I suffered and survived a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). I’m told that one of my teammate’s moms quickly jumped into action and began performing CPR on me while an AED was located and 911 was called. She and the EMS team on call rescued me.

“It didn’t seem real, we kept yelling, ‘Carter, open your eyes, you got this buddy, come on,’ and he wasn’t responding,” said Carter’s dad, Jeremy.

Once in the care of the EMS team, I was first taken to RUSH Copley Medical Center in Aurora and soon after airlifted to Lurie Children’s in downtown Chicago so that I could be cared for by pediatric specialists.

“Jeremy and I are beyond grateful for the bystanders and first responders, the transport team and the team at Lurie Children’s,” said Carter’s mom, Cathy. “We are confused about what caused this to happen to a healthy child, but knowing he beat many odds, we are thankful and grateful every second, every minute.”

While I know so much happened around me and for me in between the time of my cardiac arrest and arriving at Lurie Children’s, Day 5 in Lurie Children’s Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) is my first conscious memory. When I woke up, I remember being so confused, and I couldn’t talk right away because I was intubated, so I wrote my questions down. I kept asking “Where am I?” Each time I would fall asleep and wake up just as confused, asking the same questions over and over.

I remember the day that my brothers came to visit; we spent a lot of time watching the Olympics on TV, which was the perfect distraction for me and helped pass the time while I was in the hospital. To help with my recovery, I began walking around the hospital with my physical therapist and nurse when I was up to it – which my doctors said was very quick considering what had happened – and would go into the exercise room to dribble the basketball. I was surprised by how weak and out of breath I was.

While I was discharged from the hospital after nine days, my recovery will be months long. I’m three months out from that night on the basketball court, and it’s still a lot of work to get my energy back and feel strong, but I am motivated to get there. My treatment has consisted of a procedure to place a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) device (a small, battery-powered device that treats life-threatening heart rhythms) as well as physical therapy. While I’m still recovering from my device implant and will continue to have follow-up appointments for the next few months, I’m committed to doing everything I need to do to get back on the basketball court as soon as possible.

“There really are not enough adjectives to describe the care team at Lurie Children’s,” Cathy said. “Having no experience with pediatric care and being in a trauma situation, we had no expectations, and we were at the mercy of his providers. We can say with complete confidence that we were in the best care we could have asked for. The CCU doctors, nurses, staff – everyone was phenomenal. The most impressive was how often we as parents were asked ‘What can we get you?' or 'What questions do you have?' Their kindness, gentle care and patience in explaining things to Carter, sometimes on repeat, was so appreciated.”

I am a healthy kid and have participated in sports my entire life. Many kids are like me – healthy and athletic and have no underlying health conditions – and my heart just stopped that day. While it can be hard to know the exact cause of a sudden cardiac arrest, my care team has no questions about the reason for my survival: the immediate CPR and AED use performed by teammate’s mom and the EMS team. I also want to thank my parents and family for all their love and support through all of this.

Following this event, it’s become important to me to advocate for SCA awareness because it’s happening to other young athletes like me and can change a person's life in an instant. I want to encourage widespread CPR training and for all sport facilities to have AEDs. These things combined saved my life and changed it.

“We did not take heart health serious in the past,” Cathy said. “We were not CPR trained (we are now!), and we were not aware of where AEDs were or weren’t – we were sort of oblivious. Our goal is to share Carter’s story and to create awareness for people like us. We want to encourage the public on three things: get CPR trained, locate and promote AED access in your workplace, worship centers and athletic centers, and proactively ask about heart screenings. You often hear people say after a diagnosis or trauma situation ‘We never thought it would happen to us.’ Well, we are the ‘us’ and it does happen. So please get educated. Your heart and your loved one’s hearts deserve it.”

About Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a condition in which the heartbeat stops abruptly and unexpectedly. This may be caused by abnormal or irregular heart rhythms, called arrhythmias, which affects the proper pumping of blood. Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, at any age, with little or no warning. On average, if someone has a sudden cardiac arrest outside of a medical setting, they have approximately a 10% chance of survival. Immediate CPR and the availability of an AED can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. Public knowledge of these life-saving skills is crucial.

For more information about sudden cardiac arrest, CPR/AED use and how Lurie Children’s is helping schools and public spaces across the state prepare for SCA emergencies, see the resources below.

• Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Chest Pain & Heart Attack in Teens
• The Case for CPR and Why Acting Quickly Matters
• How to Use an AED on a Child
• Project ADAM – Project ADAM is a helpful resource for preventing sudden cardiac death. As an affiliate of Project ADAM, Lurie Children’s aims to increase survival from sudden cardiac arrest in Illinois by helping schools achieve a 'Heart Safe School' designation, indicating that they have a cardiac response team and documented response plans in the case of an emergency. For more information about Project ADAM, educational resources and how to become a Heart Safe Site, visit projectadam.com or reach out to projectadam@luriechildrens.org.