Westerville South High School junior Austin Walker and three teachers were honored by the Delaware County Commissioners on April 30 after they revived a student whose heart had stopped at the Delaware Area Career Center.
Walker was featured in a story filed by ABC-6 newscaster Tom Bosco, who said the incident happened in February, when Tristan Rowley collapsed in school. The rescuers performed CPR and used a defibrillator to restart the teen’s heart. Walker is studying firefighting at the school and said he had just learned CPR and first aid shortly before the occurrence. “I knew that I couldn’t panic and save his life. So I had to act in the moment,” Walker said.
"He stepped up when everybody else was in shock," said Dave Gilliam, the teacher who’s class the teens were in at the time. Walker rushed to help with CPR, and then got help from firefighter instructors at the career center. They used the defibrillator to shock Rowley’s heart into beating again.
“They did save his life,” said Shannon Rowley-Suber, the teen’s mother. “They responded very quickly and he was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right people who knew what they were doing.”
“Their bravery and their training is a big part of why I’m still here,” said a thankful Rowley. His mother said Rowley had no prior history of heart issues, but now has a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted.