Make an Impact: The importance of learning CPR

This week’s WILX-TV 10 Make An Impact campaign focuses on the importance of CPR and AED training, because every second counts when someone is having a cardiac emergency.

A mid-Michigan couple has dedicated their lives to raising awareness about these life-saving techniques to honor the life of their son, 14-year-old Everson Guild.

In middle school, Everson was involved in football, wrestling, band, and student council.

His mom, Laura Guild, says he was just an all-around great kid.

“He was the kid who helped out the kids, maybe who were sitting by themselves,” Laura says.

In the eyes of his mom, Everson was also quite the artist and author.

“He wrote a really great book called: “Everson Guild’s Guide To Being Awesome!” Laura says.

It’s made up of six simple rules for how to be a good human..

Being awesome rule number five, ‘help people if they are hurt, or if they’re sad,’ would have special significance on July 24, 2017, for mom Laura and his dad Chris..

“I just got a phone call about 8:30 in the morning, they said please come here... Everson is passed out, an ambulance is on the way,” Chris Guild recalls.

That ambulance was going to Grand Ledge High School.

Everson was at football practice, just a month away from starting high school, when he went into sudden cardiac arrest...

In 2017, Grand Ledge High School was a “My Heart Safe School,” which meant Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) were on site, and the coaches were trained in CPR.

But it wasn’t enough to save Everson’s life...

“Even though everything was right, even though he passed away... there’s still that piece that he had the best chance of survival he could have gotten,” Laura says.

The Guilds say Everson didn’t have any genetic abnormalities, and his heart was strong.

They now draw emotional strength from their belief that Everson’s passing was part of his purpose.

“Bringing the awareness of CPR, bringing the awareness of AEDs, bringing the awareness of sudden cardiac arrest,” Laura says.

In the eight years since Everson’s death... Michigan law now requires public schools to develop cardiac emergency response plans and train athletic coaches in CPR and AED use.

To help spread awareness, this month, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a resolution designating June 1 through 7 as CPR and AED Awareness Week, dedicated to the memory of Everson Guild.

“Just because he’s passed away, his spirit continues to live and there’s a lot of good news that’s still being done,” Chris says.

The Guilds continue to share Everson’s spirit, something they call the “EV-effect.”

“The effects of what his spirit is bringing and all the different things that are happening, it’s creating this wonderful ripple,” Laura says.

Those ripples have turned into a wave of awareness about the life-saving impact of CPR and AEDs.School