David Dibble pitching in a baseball game.
Photo by Holden Law
By David Dibble
When David Dibble was 18 years old, he collapsed while pitching at a high school baseball game and went into cardiac arrest. Immediately, his coach started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and continued doing this for about 9-12 minutes. An ambulance rushed Dibble to the Kenosha, WI hospital, where a flight for life helicopter rushed him to a hospital in Milwaukee, WI.
Dibble was in the hospital for approximately seven to eight days. According to the doctors, if Dibble’s coach would not have started CPR when he did, Dibble would not be alive today. Following Dibble’s release from the hospital, his aunt started an organization called Dibbs17, a name that is a combination of Dibble’s name and his baseball player number.
This organization strives to bring awareness to heart conditions and CPR certifications. Within ten months of the organization’s founding, Dibbs17 CPR certified 1,700 people. The organization also participated in the Saving a Life Marathon, where people took turns giving CPR on dummies for 17 hours straight to raise awareness of the importance of CPR.
Additionally, Dibbs17 attended the Milwaukee Heart Ball, a fundraiser for cardiovascular medical research by the American Heart Association. At this event, Dibbs gave a speech about his accident and the importance of being CPR certified. Boasters donated around half a million dollars by the end of the night. Despite being told he would not play baseball again, Dibble is the pitcher for the UWS men’s baseball team today.
For more information about Dibbs17, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Dibbs17Challenge.
