ECU athlete survives cardiac arrest on campus, had no pulse for ten minutes

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Twenty-one-year-old Hailey Yentz was an ordinary college track and field athlete when her life changed dramatically on February 10. Now, she aims to inspire others and raise awareness following her miraculous survival.

Yentz was working out with teammates at ECU’s Murphy Center but things changed when she said she began to feel dizzy and everything faded away before collapsing.

“The doctors said I died, I had no pulse and was down for ten minutes,” Yentz says.

Yentz’s friends say that she was unresponsive before ECU athletic trainers and coaches rushed to Yentz’s aid to perform CPR and used an AED to restart her heart three times where they said she had no pulse for nearly ten minutes before paramedics arrived to rush her to ECU Medical Center.

“Everyone keeps asking me what was Heaven like and I’m like I don’t remember it, I don’t remember seeing anything,” Yentz says.

While in the ICU, Hailey Yentz’s parents from Northern Virginia and her sister from Durham rushed to be by her side after doctors informed them that she had experienced cardiac arrest.

Fortunately, they were able to regain her pulse without any neurological or organ damage—a rarity, as only five percent of cardiac arrest patients experience such outcomes they were told.

Doctors and even the athletic trainers who performed CPR described it as a miracle that she survived without any additional damage.

“She was certainly lucky...the other two cases I were called to were not as fortunate so those are tough situations,” says ECU medical service’s assistant athletic director Nate Clark.

However, while in ICU Yentz and her family were informed that Yentz was diagnosed with a rare genetic heart condition called arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) which requires her to live with a pacemaker and defibrillator.

While the life-saving devices will keep her safe, Yentz was told that her athletic career is officially over.

“The doctors said I can’t do any strenuous activities anymore so I probably won’t be able to run again which when I first heard that it broke my heart,” says Yentz.

Hailey says that after facing death and surviving, she wants to raise awareness for those like her and the importance of CPR training for those who saved her and gave her a second chance.

“I didn’t know I was capable of surviving such a thing but I just want people to know that CPR is very important and think that everyone should know that,” Yentz says.

Yentz is now recovering with her family and friends in Greenville, where she has switched her classes to online while finishing her final semester.