Surgeon, Dennis Begos hadn’t expected to save a football coaches life the day he arrived early for his son’s football game. While waiting in his car, listening to the Patriots-Ravens game on the radio, Dr. Begos decided to head over and watch the remaining two minutes of the other football game in progress. Minutes later, Dr. Dennis Begos saw Coach Kevin Lynch fall face down on the field. He was the first to get to coach Lynch along with two other parents and an on-duty EMT (Emergency Medical Technician).
Dr. Begos recollects that the events leading up to it were out of sorts. He wasn’t sure why he turned off the Patriots game in his car and headed to the bench area, or why he sat just 20 feet away from where the coach had fallen down, but in hindsight, he realizes it all happened for a reason, to save a man’s life.
“I was there just a few minutes when I saw Kevin collapse,” Begos said. “Even though I’m a doctor, I’m the last guy on the field if a kid gets hurt. If the coaches ask me to come look at what’s going on, I will, but for some reason, I just ran over there. I don’t know what it was that made me do that.”
Dr. Begos quickly began CPR. “Kevin lost his pulse and basically stopped breathing. I’m thinking, ‘Man, this is the real thing.’ I’ve done CPR many times in the hospital, but unfortunately, with CPR, many people don’t survive.” Said Dr. Begos.
After a few minutes of CPR, Coach Lynch started to move his legs and had shallow breaths, but it didn’t last long. A few minutes later, Lynch had lost his pulse, and Begos began to administer CPR once again. When paramedics arrived, they used the defibrillator to shock Lynch’s heart back to life and placed a breathing tube in his throat. Lynch at this time was alert enough to not want the breathing tube and tried to remove it. Dr. Begos knew this was a good sign because Coach Lynch was aware of his situation and very alert.
Coach Lynch suffered the same kind of heart attack that Bob Harper (fitness and health guru) suffered. It’s known as the widowmaker. A widowmaker heart attack is caused by a 100 percent blockage of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. When these blockages happen, the heart can suddenly stop with not much warning or time for bystanders to react. Coach Lynch received excellent care and a stent to open up the LAD artery, and Dr. Dennis Begos was given a season game ball at the end of the season for his quick action and heroic deed.
