First responders and members of the Delaware Valley Tennis Club last week celebrated their efforts in saving the life of Arthur Jethon.
Jethon, 79, was playing tennis on Sept. 10 at the club, which has a Huntingdon Valley address, with a portion of the grounds in Philmont Heights. During the match, he collapsed and went into sudden cardiac arrest.
His opponent, Jerry Millan, a dentist with a practice at Solly and Algon avenues in Rhawnhurst, began performing CPR, aided by club member Rick DeSouza and others.
That was important, as for each minute a person is in cardiac arrest without intervention, their chance of survival decreases by about 10%.
DeSouza recalls seeing little or no life in Jethon’s face, his color ashen, before calling 911, and emergency responders from the Lower Moreland Police Department and Huntingdon Valley and Bryn Athyn fire companies were soon on the scene.
Jethon was not breathing and had no pulse.
There was ultimately a glimmer of hope, as Jethon began to gasp for air, trying to breathe on his own, after an automated external defibrillator successfully reset his heart. He began to shake his head back and forth, later waking up, regaining consciousness and beginning to speak on his way to Holy Redeemer Hospital.
Jethon regained a strong pulse but was diagnosed with a 90-percent blocked artery, He underwent a double-bypass surgery.
After a week’s stay in the hospital and some rehabilitation, he is doing well, walking near his Holland home and on the road to returning to the tennis court.
Jethon survived and avoided brain damage thanks to immediate CPR and the AED, allowing his blood and oxygen to flow to the brain and other organs.
“Everything worked perfectly,” said longtime firefighter/paramedic Joe Canale.
Jethon, a former soccer great at St. Joseph’s University, is grateful for the lifesaving measures and the turnout to celebrate his survival.
“I’m overwhelmed by the response,” he said.
Canale praised the tennis club for having an AED. He noted that people who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting have a survival rate of 5 percent or less. He urges people who don’t know CPR to take a class and to know where AEDs are in places they frequent. He encourages business owners to consider purchasing an AED and training their staff in CPR. ••
