Oscar Steube, 6, suffered commotio cordis, similar to what football star Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills experienced, and instantly collapsed.
A 6-year-old Florida boy went into cardiac arrest after a ball slammed into his chest at his little league baseball game. His mother, a nurse, saved his life.
Oscar Steube, 6, suffered commotio cordis, similar to what football star Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills experienced, and instantly collapsed.
The boy’s mother, Sarah Steube, ran onto the field to begin CPR. So did his father, Riley. “I checked for a pulse, didn’t find one,” Sarah tells Inside Edition.
After four minutes, an ambulance arrived. Paramedics used a defibrillator, also known as an AED, to get Oscar’s heart to start beating again.
Sarah says she believes an AED should be present at every sports game and practice.
At a baseball field in Los Angeles, little leaguers wear chest pads to protect them if they get hit by a ball.
“When you get hit, you can only feel pressure, no pain,” one player says.
Greg Morales runs the Beverly Hills Little League. He thinks chest pads should be required.
“Parents spend $500 on a baseball bat. It is easy to invest $25 on one of these type of shirts,” Morales says.
Oscar is sitting the rest of his season out. His mother says that when he returns to little league, he will be wearing his new protective chest pad.
“This is the shirt that Oscar, when he does go back to baseball and all of my other kids are wearing, practice, games, in the backyard, they will always be wearing this,” Sarah says.
Officially, Little League requires helmets for batters and chest and face protection for catchers. There is nothing in the rules that would prohibit a player from wearing chest protection.
