WELLESLEY, MASS. (WHDH) - A young hockey player helped save the life of a referee who collapsed suddenly onto the ice during a game at the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley on Tuesday night.
Tom Parker, 24, rushed from his spot on the bench to perform CPR on the 52-year-old referee who had fallen onto the ice after suffering a “medical episode,” according to Seacoast Hockey officials.
“I hopped off the boards, skated over…by the time I got to him, he was on his back and not really breathing, didn’t have a pulse, was turning blue,” Parker recalled.
Parker, who is training to become an EMT, performed CPR on an actual person in distress for the first time that night.
“My training really took over and I started doing compressions,” Parker said. “I did it for five or 10 compressions–he had one little gasping breath.”
A teammate then grabbed the defibrillator inside the building and Parker used it to revive the referee, stabilizing him.
The referee was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, officials said.
Parker, who has played hockey since he was six years old, said this was the biggest score he’s ever made.
“I just want to see him out on the ice again because I think that would be the biggest gift he could give me, just get back on the ice and live his life again,” he said.
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