Broward boy, 10, hopes to save lives via his fundraising
Defibrillators to be placed at 3 ice rinks


By C. Ron Allen
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Chase Priskie knows very well that good often comes out of tragedy.

Since a 7-year-old hockey player died on the ice while playing in Kendall in July, Chase, 10, of Pembroke Pines, has been raising money to place automatic external defibrillators in three South Florida ice rinks.

"I wanted to make a difference," said Chase, who was friends with the boy and played against his older brother. "I wanted to help other kids just in case they ever had a heart attack and anything ever happens."

Leandro Mata Jr., died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an excessively thick heart muscle, doctors said.

Even though it's not likely that a defibrillator, which revives the pulse in someone suffering cardiac arrest, would have saved Leandro, Chase wanted to do something in his friend's memory.

So the fifth-grader at Chapel Trail Elementary School operated a booth during the Summer Shootout at the Pines Ice Arena. He e-mailed family members, former teachers and coaches, asking for donations.

"It made me feel better because I know that someday it's going to save somebody's life," said Chase, who recently was named a South Florida Sun-Sentinel Kid of Character for kindness in a program that recognizes students in the Broward County school system.

He raised just more than $3,000 and bought one defibrillator, for $999 -- $500 less than the retail price.

"It's a wonderful thing," said Jay Delgado, general manager of Pines Ice Arena, where the machine was installed. "As an operator, it's just another sense of security knowing it's here."

Lon Rosen's company, One Beat CPR, sold them the device and donated another. The mobile company trains people on performing cardio pulmonary resuscitation.

"I believe they save lives and I believe every facility should have one," said Rosen, a firefighter/paramedic for Key Biscayne Fire Rescue. "God forbid one day it could be my [5-year-old] daughter and I would want somebody to be able to help her."

A second defibrillator has been ordered, Chase's mother, Lisa Evans, said. They plan to install it and the defibrillator that Rosen donated at Kendall Ice Arena and Ice Zone in Lake Worth. Others could be purchased as a need is found.

"Chase is very special. He is always asking the question, `What can I do?'" his mother said. "When he was on the student council, he always wanted to get involved and when there was crisis in Haiti, he got involved in collections for that."

As he aims to reduce the 350,000 deaths triggered annually by cardiac arrest, the aspiring plastic surgeon hopes that the defibrillator may become as common as the fire extinguisher.

"I think every gymnasium and place where you play a sport should have one," Chase said.


This is one in a series of stories on students who best exemplify the Broward County School District's eight character education traits -- cooperation, responsibility, citizenship, kindness, respect, honesty, self-control and tolerance -- and patriotism as part of all eight.

C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7917.