Michigan family turns son’s cardiac death into school AED mission
Family says awareness of CPR and AEDs can save lives after son’s 2017 death
GRAND LEDGE, Mich. (Aging Untold) — Fourteen-year-old Everson Guild was a football player, band member, student council member and wrestler. He went into sudden cardiac arrest at football practice at Grand Ledge High School on July 24, 2017, just a month away from starting high school.
His father, Chris, said he received a phone call around 8:30 a.m. that day telling him to come to the school because Everson had passed out and an ambulance was on the way.
AEDs and CPR-trained staff were on site
In 2017, Grand Ledge High School was designated a “MI HEARTSafe School,” meaning automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, were on site and coaches were trained in CPR.
“Everyone was there doing the right thing,” Everson’s mother, Laura, said.
Despite those measures, Everson did not survive.
Laura said he had no genetic abnormalities and his heart was strong.
“Even though he passed away, there’s still that peace that he had the best chance of survival he could have gotten,” Laura said.
Schools statewide now required to have AEDs
Chris Guild said schools in Brighton did not have AEDs before Everson’s death, but installed them at the football field, baseball field and inside the school within a week of him passing away. Eight years later, all schools had them.
Michigan law now requires public schools to develop cardiac emergency response plans and train athletic coaches in CPR and AED use.
“And now that they are, and we know that they’re there within just a minute or two of every location, it gives everybody else the sense of peace to know that there is something there that can help,” Chris Guild said.
Family created book on being a good human
Everson wrote a book called “Everson Guild’s Guide to Being Awesome,” which lists six rules for being a good human. Rule number five: help people if they are hurt or if they’re sad.
Laura Guild said her family calls the ripple effect of Everson’s story the “Ev effect.”
“The effects of what his spirit is bringing and all the different things that’s happening is creating this wonderful ripple,” Laura Guild said.
Laura Guild said her family continues to raise awareness about the lifesaving impact of CPR and AEDs.
“We know by statistics and everything that this is the right thing, that awareness needs to be done,” she said.
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