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Jermaine Cullum Nurse Melody Burrell

A sophomore basketball player collapsed on the court during a basketball tournament Saturday at Riverside Brookfield High School in Chicago, but a nurse and doctor sitting in the stands were able to help save the boy’s life, CBS Chicago reports.

Jermaine Cullum (pictured right), 16, from Christ the King Jesuit College Prep High School in Chicago fell to the court soon after scoring a basket. He suffered an apparent heart attack. Melody Burrell (pictured left), a nurse, and an emergency room doctor, Maurice Binns, rushed from the stands to perform CPR on the boy until the paramedics arrive.

Burrell said the boy was having convulsions and had stopped breathing.

“It’s a blessing that myself and that gentleman was there to even help that young man,” she said.

Cullum’s mother, Tarcia Cullum, said Burrell and Binns played a crucial role in keeping her son alive.

“If she would not have been there to start CPR for my baby, my son would not be here today,” Payton said.

Here is more from NBC Chicago:

Neither Binns nor Burrell were able to get a pulse before paramedics arrived and rush Cullum to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

“We he left the gym I wasn’t sure what condition he was in but I did know that it was something very serious,” Burrell said.

Paramedics managed to restore the teen’s pulse on their way to the hospital, and officials credited Burrell’s and Binn’s quick actions for saving the teen’s life.

“There is no question that the immediate response of the off-duty doctor and nurse played a crucial role in the fact that this young man is still alive,” Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a statement.

The teen was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at Loyola University Medical Center and was last listed in critical condition.

“His father told me thank you, that it was a blessing that God had me in that right place at the right time to help his son,” Burrell said.

The teen’s mother says she expects her son to endure a long recovery, but is confident he will pull through.
“He’s a fighter,” she said. “He is a fighter.”

HS B-Ball Player’s Life Saved By Nurse And Doctor Sitting In Stands  was originally published on newsone.com