Source: Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Student Saved by AED Inspires New SaveStation Installation
An automated external defibrillator at Stillwater Area High School helped save sophomore Keegan Hawke’s life last fall after he went into cardiac arrest during a Tuesday afternoon football practice.
Fortunately, the school was unlocked and certified athletic trainers were on hand to administer the AED, said Craig Dowdle, the president of Teddy’s Heart, a nonprofit that educates and advocates for AEDs in public athletic parks and places.
“They got it from inside the school,” Dowdle said. “If it had happened an hour later, or two hours later, or on the weekend, it would have been a different outcome — because the school would have been locked.”
Craig and Emily Dowdle, of Cottage Grove, created Teddy’s Heart as a way to honor their son, Teddy Dowdle, who collapsed and died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2022 after going up for a rebound while playing basketball with his older brother and friends at Woodridge Park in Cottage Grove. He was 22.
Teddy’s Heart last week dedicated a new SaveStation AED device near the turf practice field where Keegan, 16, collapsed on Sept. 24, 2024, the day before his 16th birthday.
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