On Monday, the 8-year-old Rohnert Park boy who collapsed during a Little League game in April, his mom and the Petaluma paramedic who helped save his life traveled to Sacramento to raise awareness for commotio cordis, a disruption of the heart’s electrical rhythm that results from a blow to the chest.
Although rare, commotio cordis can lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death and most often affects young athletes. Matthew Henry, his mother and Sue Farren, who performed CPR on Henry as he lay motionless in the Cal Ripken Little League Field, were recognized by California Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who proclaimed the first week of June as Commotio Cordis Awareness Week.
Since the incident, the Cal Ripken Little League team has purchased chest pads for all of its players. While the padding helps reduce trauma to baseball players and other athletes after being hit, they are not enough to prevent commotio cordis, studies show.
Instead, emergency responders say victims must be resuscitated by CPR or with an automated external defibrillator.
Joining Henry in Sacramento was a CSU Long Beach student who collapsed after being hit in the chest by a baseball during a high school game in 2009, when he was 14 years old. His grandfather, a retired Long Beach firefighter, along with another firefighter, performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
