University of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is raising awareness of sudden cardiac arrest with the Damani Gibson Foundation

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — We saw Jalen Milroe, former Tompkins quarterback and current University of Alabama quarterback, make amazing plays on the field. Outside the field, he draws attention to the sudden cardiac arrest.

“It’s a sudden killer, it’s a silent killer, it happens without warning in some cases,” said Ruqayya Gibson, executive director of the Damani Gibson Foundation.

Milroe is the chief ambassador for the Damani Gibson Foundation. For every touchdown he throws or runs for, the foundation donates an AED to a school or community to save lives.

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“Studies have shown that the average survival rate for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is 10%, but if someone has an AED attached within the first minute, their chances of survival increase to 90%. And that’s huge,” Gibson said.

Ruqayya Gibson is the former head coach at Cy-Springs. Her son, 17-year-old Damani, died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2019.

“If I think back to something out of the ordinary, I would say that he actually seemed tired before the sudden cardiac arrest. That was his warning sign that he was tired, but he had enough energy to go to training. Do you know? “He went to training. He ran around that day and won the runoff,” Gibson said.

Gibson resigned as an assistant track and field coach at the University of Alabama to devote all her time and energy to the foundation. “It just warms my heart to have such good people in his campaign that I can see achieve their dreams, even if I don’t have Damani there achieving his dreams,” she said. “That’s why I call them the dream gifts: because we’re trying to protect other athletes, children, teenagers and other people in general from losing their dreams to something that is a silent killer but is also preventable.”

Other Damani Gibson Foundation ambassadors include former Kinkaid running back Josh Williams, current LSU RB Shadrach Banks, Jr. and former North Shore WR and LB Shadrach Banks.

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(It) cannot be overemphasized when it comes to awareness and prevention of sudden cardiac arrest. “It’s very important to get regular checkups, but also get heart checks,” Gibson said.

“The ECG is basically good for everyone if you have it done at least every year or every two years because the heart changes over time. So once you get it, don’t just say, “Okay, they got it.” I don’t have to do it anymore.