WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — UPDATE: Dejohn Blunt has been released from the hospital.
Triad doctors are trying to figure out what happened to an 18-year-old basketball player who went into cardiac arrest during a basketball game.
The scare happened at Winston-Salem Christian School. Members of the basketball team used life-saving strategies to help a student before emergency services arrived.
Dejohn Blunt said some of his teammates were playing a practice pick-up game Sunday night. He said the game involved players only and no adults were around at the time. Blunt said everything was fine until he collapsed.
"We finished the first set and my teammate was talking to me and I wasn't responding," Blunt said.
A call for help turned into a quick response by fellow basketball players.
"Everything in the gym fell silent. I noticed he was not breathing anymore," athlete James Dowie said.
Blunt's teammates jumped in to help.
"I checked if he was breathing, and I saw that he was not. I started performing CPR," student Simon Koszyca said.
Dowie said he also helped perform CPR.
"It took me two rounds of CPR to get him back and then we flipped him over again. I lost him again. It took me about three minutes worth of CPR just to get him back before the ambulance arrived," Dowie said.
Blunt said since he got to the hospital, he has been feeling better.
"I'm grateful that I'm still alive and still here," he said. "Today's my grandmother's birthday so, I'm glad that I'm able to spend the day with her."
The overall question remains — how does an 18-year-old go into cardiac arrest?
Experts explain children show different symptoms than adults.
"Any symptoms you can get with exercise," Dr. Cathy Sechrist shared. "So, if they have chest pain, dizziness, or passing out during exercise, those examples can sometimes be the first initial clues that there might be some sort of structural heart problem or abnormality."
She is a Pediatric Cardiologist with Novant Health.
Dr. Sechrist said teens should get sports physicals with a trusted healthcare professional and when they do, they should never hold back information.
"Sometimes teenagers are afraid that if they mention something, it may keep them out of sports if they’re having symptoms. Sometimes we do extra testing to make sure that you’re healthy but we are not going to keep you out of sports," Sechrist said.
Blunt said his doctors have not yet identified what caused the cardiac arrest.