'You can't take him from me' | Nelson County teen survives cardiac arrest at football practice

BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- When a 13-year-old boy collapsed at football practice, he happened to be in the right place at the right time.

On June 20, a Tuesday afternoon, Carson Dickey went into cardiac arrest on the football field behind Old Kentucky Home Middle School.

It's a day Carson doesn't remember. The last thing he can recall was swimming on Monday and what he was told happened.

It's a different story for his Mom, Brittany Dickey, who was down the road from practice, and arrived as coaches were giving Carson CPR.

"I mean I was broken at this field, like I was losing my mind," Brittany Dickey said. "I was like God, you gotta wrap your arms around my boy, you can't take him from me, you know I still need him."

It wasn't until after Carson arrived to Norton Children's Hospital in downtown Louisville that he and his family learned he had a rare heart defect called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW), a type of abnormal heartbeat. Other than a rare sensation in his heart, Carson didn't know anything was wrong.

"Only 2% of people that go into cardiac arrest (with WPW) survive," Brittany Dickey said,

Brittany, and Carson's Dad Charlie Dickey, said he could have gone into cardiac arrest at any time, it was not triggered by football. But being on the field, meant he was surrounded by coaches and trainers who knew what to do.

"This could very well be a different outcome," Charlie Dickey said.

Two coaches immediately began CPR on Carson. Another two coaches called 911, Brittany Dickey, and the athletic trainer at Nelson County High School to bring an AED.

"Delayed care was like the worst thing that could happen in a situation like that," said athletic trainer Brittany Woodward. "To have them start it while I got the AED down here was probably life-changing."

For Woodward, it was the first time she had used an AED on a real person. Practice, that all paid off in that moment.

"They said they were doing their jobs, but no, they're really our heroes," Brittany Dickey said.

Carson spent more than a week in the ICU. Doctors were able to correct the heart condition with one procedure, and he walked out of the intensive care unit, without ever transferring to transitional or main care.

"He has a few checkups over the course of the year," Charlie Dickey said. "He should live a perfectly, healthy, happy life doing whatever he wants to do."

Dickey will sit out football season, but already looks forward to baseball, his favorite sport, in the spring.

However, he is a walking miracle, and wants other kids to know if something feels off, to speak up.

"Kids, don't be scared talking to your parents about things," Carson Dickey said. 

Woodward hopes this motivates others to look into CPR/AED training.

“This situation it saved a life. But I mean it could be a 13 year old boy, it could be a spectator, you never know," she said. "You could be at Walmart and have the training to be able to help someone it’s just like having the training is so key.”