Illinois Doctor On Vacation Saves Teen’s Life At Disney World

Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Have you ever seen one of those dramatic "is anyone a doctor??" moments while you're traveling? I'm not sure how often they really happen on planes but movies and shows make it look frequent.

And it really did happen for one young lady in Disney World.

NBC Chicago says that a doctor from New Lenox (one of Chicago's 'burbs) named Jeffrey Schiappa was on vacation in Disney World with his grandkids when he saw something concerning.

Schiappa works as a family medicine doctor at Silver Cross Hospital and Premier Suburban Medical Group, so he was a good one to have around in this situation.

He saw a group of young girls, he guesses to be high schoolers, crying around their friend that was on the ground. He says:

These little girls were over there, they looked like high schoolers, and they were crying. And I didn’t know what was happening and then I see this girl on the ground and she wasn’t responsive at that time...My son ran and grabbed an AED, we put the paddles on her... and went ahead and shocked her.

Schiappa ended up having to shock the 17-year-old's heart twice with the device. It kept her awake until paramedics arrived, but even on the way to the hospital she coded twice. It was a hidden, life-threatening condition. Dr. Schiappa said:

She was taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with a Long QT Interval, which is a prolonged heartbeat which is predisposed to having irregular beats and sudden death. This young person would have not made it if we didn’t come in at that point. She may have gone off to college and never known.

Schiappa said that Disney parks are filled with AED machines and that everyone should feel comfortable using them, even if they don't have a medical background. It's conditions like her's that is the reason doctors encourage young people to get an ECHO or EKG test to detect irregular heart rhythms.

The girl's family sent a thank you note to Dr. Schiappa.

Dr. Schiappa said he feels like he was in the right place at the right time.