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Patty
Lemel began working with Project Adam after her son’s untimely death.
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In his eighth-grade autobiography Adam
Lemel wrote that he wanted to live a life he could be proud of. And
that he did. But sadly, on Jan. 22, 1999, as he played basketball in
Grafton, the 17-year-old Whitefish Bay High School student died of
sudden cardiac arrest. Though his happy, energetic life was cut short
all too soon, Adam’s memory lives on through his family, friends and
those whose lives have been saved thanks to an initiative set up in
his memory. It’s called Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in
Adam’s Memory), and his mother, Oconomowoc resident Patty Lemel, is
a driving force behind the idea. The nonprofit program, originally
started by Adam’s childhood friend, David Ellis, was a combined
effort with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin shortly after Adam’s
death.
"Adam was a great kid,"
recalls Patty. "He was a good student; he was energetic,
conscientious, caring and always committed to doing well."
Though talking about her son’s death
still brings her to tears, Lemel now focuses much of her time working
with Project ADAM and bringing awareness to the importance of having
on-site automated external defibrillators (AEDs) readily available in
schools.
It’s a thought that’s close to her
heart because had an AED been available when Adam went into cardiac
arrest, the outcome could have been dramatically different. Paramedics
immediately responded when Adam collapsed and administered CPR while
he lay on the gym floor and in the ambulance on the way to the
hospital, but he was unable to be revived. At the time of his death
there were no AEDs available at either Grafton or Whitefish Bay High
Schools.
"Adam had no history of any
ailments and no one would have ever suspected a thing by looking at
him, he was always very energetic," says Lemel. "It was very
difficult for us to be heavily involved (in Project ADAM) that first
year, but as time went by we knew it was important to get the word out
there."
The mission behind the program is to
serve adolescents through education and deployment of life-saving
programs that help prevent sudden cardiac arrest. Since its inception,
the project has served more than 500 Wisconsin schools, 65 percent of
those being public schools, Patty adds.
"What we try to get people to
understand through our program is that AEDs do save lives, but they
don’t save lives alone, people need to know how to use them so we
make sure that they do," she continues. "Awareness is so
important and all schools should have public access to AEDs and know
how to respond to this type of an emergency."
Since the initiative began, more than
25 children and adolescents have experienced sudden cardiac arrest in
southeastern Wisconsin, according to the Project ADAM Web site. Of
these, eight survived because of immediate CPR use of an AED, early
access to emergency responders and early advanced medical care.
For her relentless work and dedication
to Project ADAM, Lemel was recently honored with the Hero of the Year
award from the American Red Cross Milwaukee Chapter. The first award
of its kind, the Hero of the Year is given to those who demonstrate
acts of great courage and kindness.
"Receiving the award was very
emotional and very humbling," Lemel says. "There are so many
great people that work on the project, people take it on and they do
so much, they struggle and they stay with it."
Additionally, Project ADAM is currently
in the works to go nationwide, and with its success here, Lemel has
high hopes that it will succeed far beyond the borders of Wisconsin.
Behind it all though, are her memories of Adam.
"Adam is the guiding force behind
all of this and he would have been very proud to see all that’s been
done."
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