TCA runner uses CPR to save teammate at race

Logan Lott is a sophomore at Trinity Christian Academy and runs on the cross country team.

Her father, Kent, is a member of the Jackson Fire Department, and he's always made sure Logan knew CPR and the Heimlich maneuver in case she ever needed to use either one.

Lott found herself in that situation last week as she was preparing herself to run in the region championship race for the cross country team at Shelby Farms in Memphis.

"First of all, there were a lot of things that were unique about that day that confirm for me that God had His hand on this entire situation," Lott said.

The first detail that does that for her is the schedule of the event. Typically, the girls' race is first and then the boys run their race. But the boys ran first on Oct. 29.

"I don't remember that ever happening," Lott said. "And I'm sure it's not the first time, but I don't remember ever running second."

Lott and another Lady Lion runner, Mary Quinn, were staged at a certain spot on the trail to watch the race and keep track of runners in the two-lap race.

"There was no one else where we were and no one further up the trail," Lott said.

And as the runners came through for the second time, Lott and Quinn noticed that TCA freshman Jackson Hawks should've come through again already.

"The first lap, he was in a certain place running, but when the second lap was happening, we saw a number of runners that he was ahead of that he should still be ahead of unless something happened," Lott said. "So we were about to head back to the finish line and prepare for our race when we noticed that, so we started walking the other direction looking for him.

"As we walked, another runner who was pretty far behind Jackson before was waving his arms as he was running and pointing back at someone behind him," Lott said. "He said someone had passed out as he passed us."

Lott and Quinn moved faster looking for whomever had fallen. They found Hawks who'd fallen and was mostly off the trail in tall grass with his head on the side of the trail.

"If no one was behind him and no one was looking for him, he would've been hard to spot," Lott said.

Lott and Quinn got to him and found he wasn't breathing and was unresponsive. As Quinn went to get help because no one in the area had their phones with them, Lott, who'd recently received CPR certification, began to do chest compressions.

"After seven compressions, he began gasping but sounded like he couldn't get air into his lungs," Lott said. "He'd briefly open his eyes, but I could tell he wasn't with us as his eyes were vibrating inside his head and he was staring ahead."

The important thing was Lott could detect a pulse, but it was faint.

The location where Jackson collapsed was about a half-mile from the finish line, so it took a few minutes for more people to get there besides the people from ECS - the host school - who were on the golf cart following the last runners.

There was an EMS crew on site with an ambulance, and it took a few minutes to get there.

Six days after the incident, Jackson said he remembers running and then remembers nothing until he woke up in the ambulance.

"My parents were in there with me, and these people were working on me and asking me questions like where I was and what day was it," Hawks said.

The ambulance took him to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, and he was there for about six hours, leaving well after midnight and getting home in Jackson about 3 a.m. He stayed out of school the rest of last week and returned Monday. He went through a number of tests throughout the week to try to determine the cause of the ordeal, which is something he said the doctors have said could take a while to figure out.

He returned to school on Monday, Nov. 4, wearing a heart monitor that will stay on for two weeks and give doctors some data to look at if there's a problem with his rhythm.

"But I feel fine," Jackson said. "I'm glad Logan was there to help me when I'd passed out."

Lott said she was glad her dad wanted her to know CPR and was able to use it.

"When my father was young, his brother fell into a pool and wasn't breathing when they got him out," Lott said. "So he had to work hard to keep him from  dying, which he did.

"I'm glad we were the ones who found Jackson and I was able to help him, but anyone can learn CPR and be able to do it to help someone else. Hopefully this will convince others that we all need to know it because we never know when we'll need to use it. God had a purpose for us all that day, and there's no telling how long before we know what His plans are from there."

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news