Chiefs K Harrison Butker played vital role in response to DE BJ Thompson's medical emergency
Kansas City Chiefs Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance, Rick Burkholder, provided the latest update on DE BJ Thompson following practice on Friday. Burkholder revealed new details surrounding the response to the medical emergency that took place in a team meeting on Thursday. It all started with the quick reaction by one of Thompson's teammates to alert […]
Kansas City Chiefs Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance, Rick Burkholder, provided the latest update on DE BJ Thompson following practice on Friday.
Burkholder revealed new details surrounding the response to the medical emergency that took place in a team meeting on Thursday. It all started with the quick reaction by one of Thompson's teammates to alert Burkholder and the rest of the training staff that something was terribly wrong.
"BJ (Thompson), when he had his seizure, (Harrison) Butker immediately ran towards a training room and grabbed Julie Frymyer and David Glover and then grabbed me," Burkholder said. "We went into the room. Eventually, Tiffany Morton and Evan Kraft came in, as well. With this facility, we have a doctor's office down the hall Dr. JP Darsh from Kansas University Health System was there. He came up and assisted.
"As a team, we tried to stabilize BJ and then put him on the floor while he was still seizing. And then he went into cardiac arrest. So our team, that group of people, provided CPR for him. He had one A-D shock and came back. So he was only in cardiac arrest for probably less than a minute to a minute and a half."
Burkholder went on to praise the response from his team, who just earlier this week practiced an emergency response plan with a group called Walters Inc., which comes in and educates personnel on scenarios like the one they went through on Thursday.
"Our players, our security staff, everybody involved, coaches, staff, they were phenomenal in handling the crisis," He continued. "We then turn him over to KC Fire Department and those paramedics do those practice sessions with us. So there was some familiarity there with those guys."
Thompson was taken to KU Hospital, where he was heavily sedated and put on a ventilator throughout the night. He's since been brought out of sedation and is awake, responsive, and trending in the "absolute right direction" per Burkholder. There is still no diagnosis at this time and they ultimately might not have one, but the important thing is that Thompson is doing well.
As for the quick thinking and response by Butker, who has come under heavy criticism this offseason for a commencement speech given at Benedictine College, Chiefs S Justin Reid said it best.
"Harrison's that guy," Reid said. "I mean, he loves all of us. And you know, we're family. This is so much deeper than just football. And yeah, I mean, we root for each other, and in a moment like that, you just have to call yourself into action. Harrison did that. And the trainers moved so quickly to be able to rescue BJ and helped make it happen. "
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