‘CPR and the AED saved his life’

OMAHA, Neb. — After freshman Nate Bentley finished his 100-meter leg of the sprint medley relay, he passed the baton to teammate Seth Gordon, took three steps and collapsed on the track in lane eight.

“He went down face first and was just laying on his stomach on the track not moving,” Bentley’s mom Erin Wallace said.

The meet was originally scheduled for Monday but had been postponed to Tuesday due to weather. With her work schedule already set, Wallace wasn’t able to go to the makeup date.

Fortunately, everyone is family in a small town.

“Naomi Sharp hopped a fence and jumped the wall to get down there,” Wallace said of the fellow Creston mom. “Not only did Naomi start the CPR initially, she texted me in all caps — ‘EMERGENCY, CALL ME NOW.’”

Sitting in the stands near turn four, Sharp didn’t actually see Bentley go down on turn three.

“Some high school kids down there were pointing, and a Glenwood guy said one of the Creston runners is laying on the track,” Sharp said. “As I was running down there, I saw he wasn’t moving. I hopped the fence and hopped down off the wall.”

Thinking Bentley had passed out, Sharp shook him.

“He was not responsive,” she said. “I flipped him and realized he wasn’t breathing. I started trying to pulse and we realized he didn’t have one.”

A man from another school began CPR on Bentley but quickly asked Sharp for help.

Working in early childhood education and now as a volleyball coach, Sharp has been certified in CPR countless times.

“I said I can do it and I took over,” she said. During her second round of 30 compressions, another woman took over, giving Sharp the chance to contact Wallace.

Glenwood High School Activities Director Jeff Bissen ran from the press box to get the AED. One of the Glenwood coaches, an off-duty Council Bluffs police officer, hooked up the AED and shocked Bentley once, getting him to breathe again.

An AED, automated external defibrillator, is a portable medical device that analyzes the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electrical shock to help the heart reestablish an effective rhythm.

“CPR and AEDs save lives. It needs to be everywhere,” Wallace said. “Everyone there did amazing.”

Sharp’s son Ryder is a grade above Bentley.

Coach Maggie Arnold made the call to follow Bentley to the hospital.

“I said I can stay with the boys and help coach. I have my coaching certificate,” Sharp said. “Everyone was all in, we’ve got to figure this out, what’s next.”

Within minutes of talking to Sharp, Wallace was on the road to Children’s Nebraska in Omaha where her son was being transported to via ambulance.

Arnold and another track mom, Trisha Riley, were also headed to the hospital, ensuring Bentley would never be alone.

“When I got here, I came straight to the emergency room, met Trisha Riley and security escorted me to see him. That was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. He was only in the spandex pants, hooked up to a million things.”

When Bentley woke up nearly 12 hours after the incident, he didn’t remember running a new personal-best time in the 100m dash or collapsing on the track.

“I don’t even remember running the race,” Bentley said. “I just woke up in the hospital with my mom next to me. I didn’t know what to think, and I was scared.”

For the previous seven hours, Wallace had been holding her son’s hand, watching him come in and out of conciousness several times.

“By the fourth time he woke up, it was like 5, 5:30 in the morning, he was very lucid, very aware.”

With the tube still in his mouth, Bentley couldn’t speak. They communicated with their hands, but when Bentley mimed what looked like playing a video game and then made a peace sign, Wallace was confused.

“The nurse said, ‘I think he wants to take a selfie,’” Wallace recounted. “I asked him if he wanted to take a selfie and he nodded yes.”

At this point, Wallace realized Bentley was going to be OK, even if it would take awhile to get back to normal.

Recovery

Wednesday, Creston Activities Director Scott Driskell and CHS Principal Bill Messerole visited Bentley in the hospital, bringing along Glenwood’s AED for the cardiologists to look at.

“I didn’t realize that the AED doesn’t just give a shock,” Wallace said. “It takes a lot of information and saves it, kind of like a black box for the heart.”

By Thursday, they were able to get a good night’s sleep and Bentley was able to go for a walk, disconnect from all kinds of medicine and start eating more normally, though they are constantly monitoring his heart.

“I’m doing pretty good,” Bentley said Thursday afternoon. “I’m feeling a lot better, eating and playing with toys.”

Friday, Bentley will be doing exercise and stress testing on a stationary bike with an EKG and MRI to see what his journey looks like from here.

As a 15-year-old who plays football, wrestles and runs track, Wallace wants to be able to give him the active life he lives now.

Bentley’s team is discussing surgically putting in an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. The ICD is a small, battery-powered device placed in the chest that can deliver an electric shock to restore a regular heartbeat.

“Their goal is to prevent this from ever happening again,” Wallace said. “He’s a young, healthy, active kid, but they can set the parameters. The cardiac specialist said look at Damar Hamlin. We don’t really know what happened there, but he’s back out on the football field.”

Until he’s able to get the surgery, his care team wants him wearing a vest known as a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator at all times.

ICD’s are expensive devices, the cost of the device itself ranging from $18,000 to more than $35,000. Including the procedure, the surgery has a top-end cost around $86,000.

Gratitude

Not being able to be at the meet was difficult, but Wallace is grateful for all the support they have received from the community during the meet and after.

“CPR and the AED saved his life. The quickness of getting those things to him immediately didn’t just save his life, it made it so he can still thrive in life,” Wallace said. “I think that’s the most important thing. We have an amazing community and an amazing school. We’ve had so many prayers and so many people show up here for Nate. It’s overwhelming the amount our community has rallied around Nate.”

Only a freshman in high school, Bentley has learned life lessons others don’t discover until much later.

“It taught me don’t take stuff for granted,” Bentley said. “You never know what’s going to happen in a few minutes or maybe in two seconds.”

For those wishing to help Nate and Erin during this time, donations can be made on Venmo to @Erin-Wallace-103.