14 Year Old Student Saved By A Mikey At Harbord Collegiate

On December 3, 2010, 14 year-old Danny Wu was swimming in the pool at Harbord Collegiate Institue during a grade 10 boys’ gym class. His classmates, Ben Claytor and Ruben Jofre, noticed  him in distress and went into action. They held him up in the shallow end of the pool until lifeguard Joe Faria and teacher Bryan Gurney came to assist.

Suddenly Danny stopped breathing. CPR was administered and 911 was called. Vice-principal Janice Gladstone quickly got the Mikey Defibrillator that was onsite through the Mikey Young At Heart program, and brought it to the pool. The defibrillator was used and Danny was revived.

EMS arrived soon after the 911 call and they also used the MIKEY. Once Danny was stabilized, he was brought to the Hospital for Sick Kids, where he would remain in the Intensive Care Unit for several days.

“The response from our students and teachers was exceptional, particularly the efforts of our life guard, physical education teacher and the two students who initially jumped to action,” said principal Rodrigo Fuentes.

Danny’s classmates and teachers were happy and relieved to hear about his progress and ecstatic when the grade 10 student finally returned to school on December 16.

In this video, Danny Wu and Vice-principal Janice Gladstone talk about what happened that day in their own words.

To date, over 200 AEDs, which we call MIKEYs, have been placed in schools including the Toronto District School Board, Halton District School Board, Halton Catholic District School Board and Limestone District School Board. More importantly, 3 students have a second chance at life because a MIKEY was available when they needed it most.