By Sarah Stephens
Elmore Autauga News
Top Photo: From left are Coach Jayson Hall, Colton Cramer, Kristen Wright, Courtney Cramer, Wayne Cramer and Principal Chad Walls.
Redland Middle School7th grader Colton Cramer, his family and the heroes that helped save him after a medical emergency at the school in January received a standing ovation and round of applause at the Elmore County Board of Education meeting Monday.
A medical emergency was terrifying, but with the help of quick response from PE teacher and Coach Jayson Hall, school nurse Kristen Wright performing CPR, and an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Colton was able to be transported for treatment at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. He recovered quickly, and officials say his future is bright.
Colton had been playing basketball with his friends in the gym, when he suddenly collapsed. At first his friends thought he was playing a joke, but the seriousness of the situation was quickly determined. For a time, he was unconscious and not breathing.
Elmore School Supt. Richard Dennis welcomed the Cramer family as well as Redland Middle School Principal Chad Walls, Coach Jayson Hall and Kristen Wright for very special recognition.
“This is year 36 for me, and I have had situations that were extremely stressful, and you react to it. But, over the course of the year, every year, we have situations where there is an ambulance called to a school to transport a student. You follow up, and you are updated,” Dennis said. He was driving to Stanhope Elmore High School when he was first notified. “But on this day, I get the communication…I get a text from Chad,” Dennis said. “Then I had a phone call from him, and as soon as I heard his voice, I knew it was real.” Dennis said he had just pulled into the parking lot of SEHS when he answered the phone. “I didn’t even cut the car off. I took the fastest route I could to get to Redland Middle School.”
With that, Dennis said he wanted to give special recognition to Colton, his parents Courtney and Wayne Cramer, and staff .
“I won’t lie to you, I was in a panic. Walls was in a panic,” Dennis said. He looked at Colton and said, “You scared a lot of people out there brother.”
Dennis said he was amazed at the response from both the staff and the medical personnel, including a LifeFlight Helicopter that landed at the school.
Principal Walls then addressed the crowd and introduced two of the heroes from that memorable day.
“In 24 years, I have dealt with many kids passed out. I got the call that day and started making my way down there. As soon as I got there, I looked through the glass doors. I could tell really quickly this was an emergency situation that I, nor anyone else in the building, had never dealt with. There was a group of people that day that played a part in saving Colton’s life, from classroom teachers, counselor, assistant principal, substitute teacher that happened to be in the gym that day, an intern in the gym and it was her first day on the job, and office staff. They all played a huge part,” Walls said.
However, he said there were two primary people who stepped up, and without them, Colton would not be here today. They were school Kristen Wright and Jayson Hall.
Walls said many of people get trained in CPR, but not everyone has what it takes to step up and perform the procedure when it is actually needed.
“Thank God we had two people that day that had not only been trained, but had the it, whatever the it that heroes have, to step up and do what needed to be done to save Colton’s life,” Walls said. “We are proud of them. They are heroes. They will always be heroes to the Redland community. You will always be heroes to these three people (Colton and his parents) standing up here.”
Officials have said that God was in the gym that day, and he worked through some amazing people to bring this story to a very happy, and heroic ending.
