KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — One minute, your heart beats with joy, and the next, it skips a beat.
When someone is experiencing cardiac arrest, every minute that passes their chances of survival decrease. Bru McCoy, Tennessee football's wide receiver, recently created the Huddle for Hearts initiative that helps youth athletes in Knoxville.
Cardiac arrest is one of the leading death causes among athletes and McCoy's mission, aligned with The Peyton Walker Foundation and the Children's Hospital, is to help that beat go on.
"Peyton was my adventure seeker and she was pursuing a degree in medicine, so she wanted to be a physician assistant," Julie Walker, Peyton's mother and founder of The Peyton Walker Foundation, said. "In 2013, we got the phone call that every parent absolutely dreads, we learned we had lost our daughter, 19 years old, without warning to sudden cardiac arrest."
Her daughter's passing prompted her to help other parents. She began working around the clock to educate people and provide AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) in communities.
McCoy had the same notion of helping and providing the community with the tools that would help save lives.
"The Peyton Walker Foundation had started kind of raising awareness and helping getting AEDs out into the community," McCoy said. "I wanted to do something similar like that here in Knoxville. We get injured, we see injuries... So why not be prepared, or at least have the peace of mind and knowing you know, if God forbid, this does happen to me or someone I care about, there's an instrument that gives them a chance."
The event on Saturday included CPR training and a demo of the AED kit and how to use it.
Two AEDs were donated to NewBreed Youth Sports, an organization that works with inner-city youth, not only in football, but basketball and baseball.
LaTonya Henry, co-founder president and commissioner of NewBreed Youth Sports said these kits can save lives.
"Oh, this donation is gonna be awesome," Henry said. "I mean, we're the first team that I know of to be donated in this area. I'm prayerful that as the word gets out, AEDs and their ability to help increase your chances of survival, that this will be something that spreads like a virus that the AEDs will go on and on and on and on."
Here's how an AED works: while waiting for emergency medical responders, people who are trained on how to use the kits can start helping those experiencing cardiac arrest.
The nonprofit's goal was to encourage the community to learn CPR and get involved. McCoy also plans to expand this initiative and help as many athletes as possible.
Even though Peyton's heart suddenly stopped a few years ago, her beat will go on.
"AED is essential when someone's in cardiac arrest because it delivers a shock to the heart that then helps the heart to restart in a normal rhythm," Walker said. "[Peyton] didn't like to be, you know, center stage and the front of everyone's attention, but she would be incredibly proud of what we've done in her name."