'Seeing him lifeless was scary': London hockey player recounts teammate’s cardiac arrest

The importance of AEDs The trauma experienced by the Bills' Damar Hamlin puts the spotlight on cardiac events and the importance of AEDs. CTV's Brent Lale reports.

Former NHL’er Jason Williams knows exactly how the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals players were feeling when Damar Hamlin was being resuscitated on the football field.

“I was there when Jiri Fischer went down and you know, to see your teammate lying there lifeless, it's definitely a scary moment,” said Williams from his London, Ont. home Wednesday.

Williams was on the ice, just a few feet away looking over the boards as he watched the team doctor’s jump into action.

“I looked over and I saw them starting to perform CPR on it just kind of scared me,” said Williams as he recalled the Nov. 21, 2005 incident. “I was like, ‘Oh no, someone's going to die here.’ I had to kind of get away from that, as I didn't want to get that picture in my mind.”

Williams credits the team doctors who were behind the bench. They jumped in and performed CPR right away, which saved the life of his teammate.

Doug Stacey, a Western sports therapist, is very familiar with jumping into action.

Over the past decade he has twice had to rush to a goaltender’s aid who was seriously cut on the ice. Once was Anthony Stolarz in 2014, and recently Tucker Tynan in 2019.

He’s thankfully never had to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).

“Everyone has them in our emergency action plan,” said Stacey, who just returned from the Spengler Cup overseas. “It's always about preparing for the worst, so that if anything happens, you're ready for it.”

Stacey said he re-trains on the AED with first responders every two years, and the majority of the weekend is spent doing scenarios where AEDs are applied.

“Part of our emergency action plan is we have literally like a small ambulance setup where we have oxygen we have an AED,” said Stacey. “When we go on the road, it comes on the bus with us so that we always have one.”

Stacey feels the quick work of the Bills and Bengals’ training staffs helped save the life of Damar Hamlin.

“They did exactly what they're supposed to do,” explained Stacey. “The first thing you do when you respond is if they're unconscious right away, go through ABCs — airway, breathing, circulation. If not there, you immediately go and assume that it's a cardiac arrest.”

He then described cutting off the equipment to expose the chest, and doing compressions immediately, followed by the wait for the AED to arrive.

“You don't wait for that,” said Stacey.

“You start, you take a break to apply it [AED] and follow the instructions. The AED is very good at telling you exactly what you're supposed to be doing. You only take a minimal break to keep the compressions going because more than 10 minutes without oxygen to the brain can result in pretty significant outcomes,” he explained.

Williams said he always keeps in touch with his former training staff members. They supported him during his career, and he’s appreciative.

“Those guys were always there having your back and it was always nice and knowing that they were in your corner and they would basically do anything to save your life,” said Williams.