WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A baseball game took a terrifying turn almost one year ago when a young boy was struck in the chest. Now, he’s back on the diamond, saying thanks to the first responders who saved his life.
Seven-year-old Oscar Stuebe shook hands with the heroes in West Palm Beach who helped save his life almost one year ago.
His mother, Sarah Stuebe, says she will never forget March 2024, when Oscar was playing for his youth baseball league.
“He yelled my name and the tone, the way he yelled it, I knew immediately something was wrong,” she said.
Oscar was hit by a baseball in the chest and went into cardiac arrest.
Sarah immediately went into action, checking her son’s pulse and dialing 911.
“I went into nurse mode,” she said. “He didn’t have a pulse, he wasn’t breathing, and I did CPR.”
Firefighters soon arrived and worked on him on the way to St. Mary’s until he gained consciousness.
“They should be thanked every day for what they do,” Sarah said. “They gave us that seat at the table for our child, and without them, we wouldn’t be here celebrating Oscar.”
Soon after recovering, Oscar met his heroes.
“His family brought him by the station after he had recovered at the hospital to say hi to all of us so that we could see him as a happy, smiling child again,” said Captain Jeffrey Stefaniak.
The family shared Oscar’s story in hopes of bringing automated external defibrillators to local parks.
“Having this here just gives me an extra peace of mind that my kids are going to be safe no matter what,” said Sarah.
As Oscar moves forward, he continues to play baseball.
“Oscar was kind of the luckiest out of this whole situation because he doesn’t remember anything from happening,” said Sarah. “I’ll never look at my son the same way. I’ll never look at any of my kids the same way.”
The Stuebe family plans to hold a ribbon-cutting Saturday to unveil a new AED machine.
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