Heart attack sends boy to hospital

Veteran saves 12-year-old boy's life

Twelve-year-old Beau Bronson, of Columbia Falls, drew the short straw when he was recently diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. But of all the places a young kid riding a bike could be when a heart attack strikes, being across the street from the home of Army vet Kyle Lockwood was a stroke of luck.

Beau was riding with friends in Kalispell when his heart stopped at the intersection of Glenwood Drive and Liberty Street about 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 8. His friends pedaled on to a nearby house to call for help.

"I looked out the window and saw an older couple who had stopped their van at the intersection and were looking at a boy laying on the ground," Lockwood said.

Lockwood raced out of his house and immediately began CPR on the young boy.

"He was blue in the face," Lockwood said. "His heart had stopped, and he wasn't breathing."

Lockwood said he did artificial respiration and chest compressions until he heard Beau gasp for breath and his eyes rolled back down. Lockwood then turned Beau on his side so his throat wouldn't become blocked if he started vomiting.

"The ambulance arrived not long after that," Lockwood said. "I guess he may have lain there for five minutes or so."

Beau's fight for survival, however, had just begun. Personnel from Kalispell Fire Department at first thought the boy had been hit by a car while not wearing a helmet. They cleared his lungs of fluid and restarted his heart again with a defibrillator.

In the emergency room at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, a CAT scan determined Beau had no head injuries, but an EKG and other tests determined he had tachycardia tissue - his heart was beating so fast that his blood pressure dropped and not enough oxygen was getting to the rest of his body.

The doctors sent test information to St. Patrick Hospital, in Missoula, and Sacred Heart Medical Center, in Spokane. A cardiac specialist at Sacred Heart recommended a change in Beau's heart medication, and his heart stabilized. A Life Flight helicopter from St. Patrick's then transported Beau to Sacred Heart.

Staff at Sacred Heart cooled Beau's body to 90 degrees to reduce brain swelling. Doctors diagnosed Beau's condition as catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, a rare disorder that affects 1 in 10,000 people, mostly children. On Oct. 20, surgeons installed a combination pacemaker-defibrillator-monitor that Beau will have to wear for possibly the rest of his life.

This is a second major setback for the Bronson family. Beau's father, Jon, one of the last workers to leave Columbia Falls Aluminum Co., was seriously injured four days before Beau's heart attack.

Jon was driving truck in the oil fields around Williston, N.D., when a forklift driver accidentally dropped a 500-plus pound pipe fitting on Jon's foot. He drove himself back to the Flathead for an MRI and other tests at KRMC. Now he's recovering at home with his wife Rosalee while they take care of Beau.

This isn't the first time Lockwood has been recognized. The 27-year-old father of five is a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal, a Valorous Unit Citation and a Combat Infantry Badge for his service in Iraq from June 2006 to September 2007. He is listed on Gov. Brian Schweitzer's "Montana Heroes" Web site.

A 2002 graduate of Flathead High School, Lockwood enlisted in the Army in September 2005. A sergeant in a Stryker Brigade Combat Team, he saw heavy fighting in Mosul, in Baghdad during the surge and in Al Anbar Province when his unit was sent on a rescue mission. Serving in the military is a family tradition, he explained.

"I was an Army brat - I lived all over the U.S.," he said.

But that's only part of the story. Lockwood's great grandfather drove one of the first tanks in World War I. His grandfather was a paratrooper in World War II and Vietnam.

Lockwood says he wants to be a military historian. He recently completed an associates degree at Flathead Valley Community College and is continuing his education online "until my veteran benefits run out." He left the military on a medical retirement, he said.

"My left leg is shattered, and I have other issues from Iraq," he said.

The Bronson family received some help in Spokane from the Ronald McDonald House and Quality Inns, but the bills are adding up.

A trust fund to help the Bronsons has been set up at the Park Side Federal Credit Union in Columbia Falls. Beau's recovery can be followed daily by logging onto www.caringbridge.org.