Spokane high school students save track coach’s life after his heart stops

Two Spokane high school students used their quick thinking to save their track coach’s life last week.

The Lewis and Clark High School track team was practicing when all of a sudden, volunteer distance coach Mike Hadway collapsed, according to the Spokesman-Review.

Brody Graham and Grant Lichfield sprung into action.

“I thought he was gone,” Brody Graham told KXLY in Spokane. “I thought he had died.”

The Spokesman-Review said Graham and Lichfield looked for a pulse and didn’t feel anything, so they called 911 and started CPR.

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“We checked his pulse,” Graham told KXLY. “It wasn’t there. We started compressions as soon as we could. We had someone else call 911. We had another person grab our clothes in another area. We really worked as a team.”

The students kept working together until medics arrived and took Hadway to the hospital.

Graham and Lichfield took turns administering CPR for three minutes before EMTs arrived and took over, the Spokesman-Review stated in its recounting of what happened. Some neighbors came out to help the boys, including Erik Loney, off-duty paramedic for the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department in Idaho.

KXLY reported that thanks to the students, Hadway was able to get his pulse back.

“Our family is super grateful that God puts those two kids there,” Mike Hadway’s son, Josh Hadway, said to KXLY. “They knew exactly what to do. They stepped up. They didn’t hesitate. My dad wouldn’t be alive if they didn’t step up.”

Hadway is currently recovering at the hospital. His son told KXLY he hopes people will learn CPR so they can be prepared if a situation like this happens to them.

For local CPR training resources, visit King County’s website.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email her here.