Charleston Catholic Student Donates Automated External Defibrillators To School

Charleston Catholic 8th grader Izak Young (left) presents two automated external defibrillators to athletic director Lee Bradley during a ceremony Thursday in the school library. Young raised the money to purchase the devices as his Service Project requirement for the Eagle Scout Award after his friend and St. Albans baseball player Leland Brown Jr. died on the field from a heart problem a couple years ago. (CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail)

Izak Young remembers Leland Brown II as a friend who felt like an older brother. Young was devastated the day in May 2014 that Brown died of sudden cardiac arrest at age 15, while playing basketball at his St. Albans home with friends. Young, now a 14-year-old student at Charleston Catholic, wanted to find a way to honor his late friend’s memory.

The Eagle Scout candidate did so Thursday morning by presenting Charleston Catholic’s athletic program with a pair of automated external defibrillators. Catholic’s sports teams can take those AEDs with them for road games, where the Irish often travel long distances to rural areas to compete.

“I was playing all-star baseball at a tournament in St. Albans, and they had a sign in right field, and it’s of [Brown],” Young said. “And I was getting close to doing my Eagle Scout project and said, ‘This is what I want to do.’ ”

The process took more than five months, Young said, filling out paperwork to raise money through the Boy Scouts, then visiting 23 businesses around the Kanawha Valley soliciting donations. Young was able to raise $2,000 to not only buy the AEDs, but also start an account that pays for new pads and batteries. He also put together a training session for coaches and parents to learn how to care for someone going through sudden cardiac arrest.

“I wanted to make sure, for him, that nothing like that would happen to anyone else,” Young said.

Young, who is playing baseball for Catholic this season, is proud to be able to help his teammates and classmates. Charleston Catholic athletic director Lee Bradley said Young’s donation was a great benefit to the athletic program.

“When we have our middle school sports and they’re on the road or at home, the first people to respond are the coaches in the dugout or on the sideline,” he said. “For us to have that access to that equipment, should a situation like that arise, it’s unbelievable.”

Story Credit: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/sports-prep-sports/20170427/charleston-catholic-student-donates-automated-external-defibrillators-to-school