The lifesaving 150 seconds

What can you do in 150 seconds? Scroll through two short videos, wait for a traffic light to change, or fix a cup of instant coffee.

Recently, a schoolteacher in Shenzhen and father of three experienced the most thrilling 150 seconds of his life, when he collapsed on a soccer pitch, suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, blacked out, and was pulled back from death by a few doctors whom he luckily had as teammates.

His post titled “The 150 Seconds I Collapsed Unconscious” went viral on social media, again reminding people to stop staying up late and not to exercise when already feeling tired.

The incident happened on April 2 at the Dabao Road Sports Park during a spirited game.

“Another play had just ended. I was leaning on my knees, catching my breath, about to shout to my teammate, ‘Nice pass!,’” the teacher surnamed Wang wrote.

“Then I felt it — my chest violently seized by an invisible hand. It wasn’t pain, but a kind of unprecedented, bottomless void and collapse. Every sound — my teammates' banter, the distant traffic, my own heartbeat — vanished instantly. My field of vision dimmed and narrowed rapidly from the edges inward, like a screen losing power. ‘Am I... just too tired?’ That was the last vague thought that flashed through my mind.”

Ten seconds after he felt the seizure in his chest, Wang passed out, feeling as if the world had turned into an ocean of absolute silence and darkness, with himself falling into an abyss and at the same time floating somehow.

That’s when his heart stopped beating. The doctors from the Bao’an District Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital called the ambulance, sprinted to retrieve the on-field AED (Automated External Defibrillator), and dropped to their knees on the grass to perform CPR on Wang.

Recalling the event later, Wang said that in those brief moments of unconsciousness, he vaguely heard a dull "thumping" sound. It was the sound of the doctors pressing firmly on his chest at an emergency rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute.

“Stand back! … Airway! … 100… 120… deeper! … The AED! Go get it! …”

Wang said he also heard voices that seemed to come from underwater — warped, muffled, yet with a vague sense of urgency.

By the 120th second, the AED was ready.

“Bam!” A powerful electric current, accompanied by a blinding flash of white light, surged through his body. At the 150th second, like a crashed computer being force-restarted, Wang gasped in a deep breath and coughed audibly.

“With effort, I moved my eyes. What I saw were anxious, sweat-soaked familiar faces. They were gathered around me — some holding an oxygen bag, others still performing compressions, still others checking my pupils,” Wang wrote.

“At that moment, I heard my own heart pounding wildly. When you’re tired, never do ‘revenge exercise,’” Wang wrote in his account, offering heartfelt advice.

Many people, thinking they are young and in good shape, will go for a quick sprint on the field or work out in the gym after working overtime, believing exercise is a good way to sweat it out. What they don’t realize is that an exhausted body is like a string stretched to its breaking point, and high-intensity exercise is the blade that cuts it.

Wang’s 150 seconds didn’t just restart his life; they reset his entire attitude toward living. Tonight, take this advice from a father who got a second chance: Go to bed early. If you’re tired, cut yourself some slack and rest.

And as you walk through the streets of Shenzhen, take a moment to recognize those red and green boxes holding an AED. Maybe someday, your quick run and call for help could become another person's miracle.

Tips:

· Regardless of professional training, when someone experiences a sudden emergency, you can do these three things:

· Call 120 immediately, clearly stating the location and situation.

· Shout for help and ask someone to find the nearest AED.

· Stay on the scene until professionals take over, provided the environment is safe.