Seventeen-year-old Tyler Bell got the scare of his young life on January 23. The Orléans resident was attending classes at the Norman Johnston Alternative School in Blackburn Hamlet when he suddenly collapsed for no apparent reason.

Tyler’s teacher, Kim Brent, saw the young man collapse and immediately sent someone to the office where vice-principal Charles Tourigny called 9-1-1. The school’s guidance counselor, Mark Frankish, was also near the spot where Tyler collapsed and immediately jumped into action, applying CPR while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. At the same time, fellow teacher Cameron Dunfee grabbed the school’s defibrillator and applied it to Tyler’s chest and restored his heartbeat.

Ottawa paramedics arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and stabilized Tyler, who was still unconscious, before loading him into an ambulance and rushing him to the hospital where he underwent several hours of surgery surrounded by a huge team of professionals.

Through it all, Tyler’s mother, Stephanie Bell, felt totally helpless.

“I got a call from the school at 12:20 p.m. telling me that my son had an emergency and was not breathing. I just jumped in the car with my daughter Kiera and we flew to the school,” says Stephanie, who made it just after the paramedics had arrived. “I felt helpless. All I could do was pray. So I prayed to my uncle Angus, who had passed away. My mom. And my Fil Lorn. Asking them all to just send him back. He wasn’t ready to go.”

Vice-principal Tourigny drove Stephanie and Keira to CHEO where Tyler’s father Randy was already waiting.

After surgery, Tyler was moved to the Intensive Care Unit where it was touch and go for a while until he eventually pulled through and regained consciousness.

After two weeks in recovery during which his mother barely left his bedside and he was often visited by family and friends, Tyler was allowed to return home with an S-ICD implant which will act as a mini-defibrillator should his heart go into cardiac arrest again.

Unfortunately, the exact cause of Tyler’s condition remains unknown despite a battery of tests.

For their part, Stephanie and her husband Randy Bell say they are eternally grateful to the teachers and staff at Norman Johnston for keeping her son alive until the paramedics arrived, as well as those paramedics who managed to stabilize his condition until he made it to the hospital and into the operating room. They are also immensely grateful to the doctors and staff at CHEO for all the effort they made in returning her son to her.

“I have aged 100 years and counted 20 new grey hairs I will wear as a badge of honour,” says Stephanie, who is also grateful for the support of her family and friends through the entire ordeal. “We are blessed and grateful to be where we are now. The love and support from family and friends has been incredible.”

As for any parents who might happen to read this story, Stephanie encourages you to hug your kids hard and tell them every single day how proud you are of them because “life can change in an instant”.

She also encourages everyone to learn CPR and know where all the defibrillators are whenever you enter a building. They save lives, but you need to know where they are and how to use them.

As for Tyler, he can’t thank the teachers who saved his life enough. The same goes for the staff at CHEO.

“I’m super grateful for everything they have done. I wouldn’t be here without them,” says Tyler who’s looking forward to playing hockey again next season with the Cumberland Dukes.