It’s safe to say pickleball is one of the most popular sports at Miller Park in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
It’s a hobby Rory Bakke and Sunny Saengdara couldn’t pass up, first partaking in the ever-growing game a couple of months ago. But when the couple hit the courts on Saturday night, something went terribly wrong.
During play, Saengdara said Bakke collapsed.
“I just kind of sprang into nurse Sunny, because I had to,” said Saengdara. “I had no other choice.”
Saengdara, who is a nurse, ran over but felt no pulse.
“Trying to hold it together and trying to almost separate the fact that this is my boyfriend that it’s happening to,” said Saengdara.
Saengdara started CPR and used an automated external defibrillator to shock her boyfriend’s heart, which was in cardiac arrest.
“It’s still quite surreal to me,” said Bakke.
The AED was key, Saengdara said.
“Rory would not be alive if it wasn’t for that,” said Saengdara.
The AED was installed by the pickleball courts just 12 days before the incident, thanks to Paul Mendoza’s company, Advanced First Aid. The AED was requested by Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation back in the spring, Mendoza said.
“It actually brings tears to my eyes,” said Mendoza.
Saengdara said she wouldn’t have even known about the AED had she not seen a post about it on an Eden Prairie community Facebook page.
This is the fourth person Mendoza said his AED devices have saved on pickleball courts this year.
“Having an AED shock right away is a gamechanger because that’s the treatment, the only treatment that can save someone’s life,” said Mendoza.
“It doesn’t seem like a coincidence. It seems like everything was meant to happen the way it was supposed to,” said Saengdara.
Doctors are still trying to figure out what happened to Bakke, according to Saengdara. Right now, she said they suspect arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, a rare genetic heart rhythm disorder that can be fatal if left untreated.
Bakke is getting a defibrillator in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, he wears a temporary one.
“Everyone should know CPR, like watch a video or take a class, and know where the AED is,” said Saengdara.
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