Cirye Carpenter is a 14-year-old student-athlete at Jobe Middle School, and was playing basketball when she collapsed prompting nurse Kari McConnell, a passerby, to jump into action.
After being hospitalized doctors initially gave Carpenter the okay, until a couple of weeks later Cirye collapsed on the court again, and with luck, McConnell was once again nearby for a much worse situation.
Our partners at NBC5 spoke with McConnell, who said "Her face was slowly getting grayer and grayer, to where I know she's not breathing."
Cirye's mother Shay said, "When I noticed that she wasn't breathing, I thought she was gone."
After performing CPR, Cirye was once again hospitalized and cardiologists found a life-threatening heart defect she'd had since birth. She's slated for heart surgery next week to fix the condition and hopes to get back on the court to pursue her dream of playing collegiate sports. All thanks to one nurse who just so happened to be in the right place, at the right time.
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