A St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter used CPR to aid a local videographer who had suffered a heart attack and stroke in the opposing team’s dugout, according to the newspaper.
Derrick Goold, the Post-Dispatch’s lead Cardinals beat writer, had just entered the Cubs’ dugout Sunday at Busch Stadium when a videographer collapsed without a pulse, according to the Post-Dispatch. When someone asked if anybody knew CPR, Goold — who the publication notes is a former Eagle Scout and lifeguard — answered the call.
He carried out the life-saving procedure until the Cubs’ medical staff was able to intervene, the Post-Dispatch reports. The incident took place moments before the Chicago Cubs announced their manager, Joe Maddon, would not return to the team next season.
The victim, who is 64, had reportedly suffered a heart attack and stroke, according to the Post-Dispatch. He was taken to a hospital and listed in “critical but stable condition.” The Cardinals did not return a request for comment from The Washington Post late Sunday, but medical staff and security at the stadium commended Goold for his efforts.
“So many people are afraid of doing CPR. But, because of (Goold’s) actions, he was the first link in that chain of survival,” Washington University Professor David Tan, who was the stadium doctor Sunday at Busch Stadium, told the Post-Dispatch. “It’s fabulous. It was the early CPR by Derrick Goold that probably saved his life. Derrick wasn’t afraid. He didn’t hesitate. And he did it.”
Goold, who served as president of the Baseball Writer’s Association in 2016, responded to reports about the incident in a single tweet, however, writing that he “Only tried to do what’s right.”
His wife, Erika Ebsworth-Goold, elaborated a bit more while praising her husband, who she called a “dogged, intrepid reporter and an incredible writer.”
“More importantly, [Derrick Goold] is also a dam good person, who jumps in to help when and where he is needed,” Ebsworth-Goold wrote on Twitter. “Hoping the gentleman he assisted today makes a full and quick recovery.”
It’s worth noting that even after his heroics, Goold’s work wasn’t finished. He still managed to file a story Sunday detailing how the Cardinals had nearly squandered their current position at the top of the National League standings.
