About two years ago, on a soccer field at Barney Schwartz Park in Paso Robles, a young player collapsed from a rare heart condition. As panic spread across the field, the assistant coach trained in CPR and First Aid jumped into action, helping keep the boy alive until paramedics arrived.
Now, after a full recovery, his story is highlighting the importance of CPR training for people of all ages.
Literally, like, I was holding him in my arms, and his heart stopped, said Brie Howenstein, who was an American Youth Soccer Organization assistant coach when the incident occurred.
It was a routine youth soccer practice that turned into a life or death emergency on Sept. 10, 2024. Twelve-year-old soccer player, at the time, Tony Lagattuta collapsed with a heart condition so rare, doctors later told his friends and family they never see these patients alive.
They get a good outcome once every two years, and its usually diagnosed during autopsies, Howenstein said.
He survived because Howenstein a nanny and former lifeguard trained in CPR and First Aid and only 21 at the time never hesitated.
I turned him over and he was completely blue. But I did my initial assessment and that’s you put your head to their face so you can see if they’re breathing, and then you put your fingers on their neck to see if you can feel a heartbeat, and I felt his heart stop under my fingers, Howenstein recalled. I was like, I can’t believe I have to do this right now, but I have to do this right now.
Howenstein says she performed CPR on Lagattuta for about seven minutes until help arrived.
Paso Robles Fire & Emergency Services Administrative Fire Captain Ross Porter responded to that call about two years ago and remembers it well.
When we pulled up, we noticed that there was CPR being done on the field right out here, Porter said. When someone has a cardiac arrest event, every minute that goes by without CPR, your chance of survival decreases by 10%.
Lagattuta was diagnosed with catecholamine polymorphic ventricular tachycardia – a rare, inherited heart disorder where physical activity or emotional stress triggers a dangerously fast heartbeat.
When he arrived at the hospital, he was put in a medically induced coma until doctors could assess his brain.
The neurologist, at the end, said, No, hes fine. Bri, because of that high-quality CPR, is the reason that he had no brain damage, Lagattutas father Francis Lagattuta said.
Howensteins CPR saved a life, but she was only at the field because her dad, the head coach, was called into work.
God wanted Tony to be around, so he put her there like a guardian angel.
Because of this, Porter says the fire department now teaches the citys AYSO teams CPR during their opening ceremony and makes sure the public is aware of where every AED is located at the park.
If I do nothing else with my life, saving him will be enough, Howenstein said.