Lemel to be honored by
Red Cross
By Brian O'Shea, gmtoday.com
April 28th, 2005
OCONOMOWOC - More than six years ago, Adam Lemel
died doing what he loved best - playing basketball.
The 17-year-old Whitefish Bay High School student
died of cardiac arrest Jan. 22, 1999. His mother,
Patty Lemel of Oconomowoc, will be honored Saturday
by the American Red Cross Milwaukee Chapter with a
Hero of the Year award.
"I am honored and humbled," Lemel said.
The Hero of the Year award is given to those who
demonstrate acts of great courage and kindness, said
Kate Hinze, director of media and communication at
the Red Cross’ Milwaukee chapter.
"We wanted to let people know that there are
good people out there doing great things," Hinze
said.
Struggling to find meaning after her son died, Lemel
agreed to support an initiative started by her son’s
childhood friend, David Ellis, and the Children’s
Hospital of Wisconsin. It is called Project ADAM,
Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory.
The project helps schools implement a public access
defibrillation program from beginning to end. An automated
external defibrillator could have saved Adam Lemel’s
life the day he collapsed.
We don’t want schools to just get the AED itself,"
Lemel said. "We want people to be trained and
know what to do if something should happen."
Project ADAM services more than 500 schools or school
districts. Lemel stressed that Project ADAM offers
an ongoing resource for the AED programs in these
schools. One way of doing this is providing schools
with training grants.
Adam’s father, Joe Lemel, strongly supports
Project ADAM and said in a letter his son’s
death would not be in vain.
"You think young people don’t die. You
think, ‘It won’t be my child,’"
he wrote. "But kids do have sudden cardiac collapse,
and without defibrillators and people trained to perform
immediate CPR, they do die."
Since Project ADAM began in 1999, more than 25 children
and adolescents have experienced sudden cardiac arrest
in southeastern Wisconsin. Eight of these children
survived because of immediate CPR, use of an AED,
early access to emergency responders and early advanced
medical care, according to the Project ADAM Web site.
"I’m delighted with the progress we made,"
Patty Lemel said. "We service over 500 schools.
That’s very rewarding. It is an honor to be
part of this program in my son’s memory."
For more information about Project ADAM, visit www.chw.org/projectADAM. |
