Upworthy · 3 days ago

Basketball Coach Collapsed 3 Minutes Into the game. the Rival Coach's Next Move Saved His life.

Three minutes into a middle school basketball game, coach Ronnie Poirier collapsed, his lips blue, his breathing stopped. Ian Haffer, coaching the opposing team, didn't see a rival-he saw someone who needed help, and he ran. With medical training and an AED, Haffer delivered the shock that pulled Poirier back from cardiac arrest, bridging the gap between collapse and survival in the span of ten urgent minutes. Later, still recovering in the hospital, Poirier's voice caught as he spoke about the man who'd been his opponent that day: "Yep, he saved my life." In that moment on the court, the game dissolved into something larger-the instinct to move toward someone in trouble, to act without hesitation when a life hangs in the balance.