Football fans help to save Berkeley county man's life at game

The excitement was not only on the field at Friday night's Berkeley High School football game, but in the stands as well, for a different and serious reason. A man stopped breathing, and the game paused as fans rushed to help save his life.

Sixty-four-year-old Gene Cribb is thankful to be alive. He's recovering at Trident Medical Center, after surgery to clear two major blockages in his heart. He went into cardiac arrest in the stands at Friday night's Berkeley High School football game. Mr. Cribb says, "Just before half time, I started feeling a little nauseous. I told my son we have to leave the ball game, but it's a very good thing I didn't, thirty seconds before half time, I went out completely." Two ladies, both medical professionals, women he now calls his guardian angels, were sitting in the stands near him, and rushed to help administer CPR. Cribb says, "I woke up, I was still in the stands. We had some folks working on me that were workers right here at the hospital. I can't express the thanks I have for them. They saved my life."

Debra Locklear, a cardiac nurse and Angela Holten, a respiratory therapist at Trident Health System jumped into action. Locklear says, "He was not breathing. He did not have a pulse, so we started CPR right away. I feel really blessed that I was there, and we were able to get him back on his feet."

Angela Holten says, "People ask, you know you doing that, what happens with it, and you're like we do that everyday. It's just we don't do it in front of four thousand five hundred people, but we do it every day. It's something I go home with every night. I do CPR once or twice a week, so it's a blessing to be able to see the outcome like this. A lot of times, we don't see the beginning middle and end, and this time, we got to. It's a good feeling." A Lowcountry head paramedic, and an emergency room physician, a referee at the game, also jumped in to help.

As for what's next for Mr. Cribb? He says, "Sticking to a healthy diet, and watching what I eat, and checking out the rest of the Berkeley Stags games." Locklear says, "We are his guardian angels. We decided at every football game, we're going to sit on both sides of him, so we'll be there for him."

Mr. Cribb may be released from the hospital Tuesday or Wednesday.

News 2 wanted to know why there was not an ambulance at the Berkeley football game when Mr. Cribb had his medical emergency. We took that question to Bob Mixter, director of Berkeley County EMS. He says the 11 ambulances that service the district, are on stand-by at the high school games. There was an ambulance at the Berkeley game, but left to answer another call, so they brought another closer ambulance in from a football game at Cane Bay to help at Berkeley High. Mixter says schools usually have medically trained personnel at high school games, regardless if there's an ambulance there or not. Mixter says, "The ambulance, that services that particular high school had another call, and they went on that call and were not available for the gentlemen who went down at the football game, and that's unfortunate but in the same breathe it's fortunate there were people who were there who knew how to doe what they know how to do, and they saved his life."

News 2 checked with other counties as well. Dorchester county also has ambulances at home football games. Charleston county does not, but are on site as requested by schools.