LSU lost Game 1 of the College World Series championship to Florida, but the outcome of a baseball game pales in significance to a person’s life. During the sixth inning of Monday’s game, an elderly Florida fan collapsed near the LSU students’ section, and Dr. Jerry Poché, the father of star LSU pitcher Jared Poché who’s been a family doctor for the past 25 years, started chest compressions on the man. Jimmy Roy, a firefighter for 30 years and the father of LSU strength coach Travis Roy, gave the fan mouth-to-mouth, even though he’d never performed CPR on an actual person (it had usually been done by their machines).
Together, the LSU parent duo successfully revived him before paramedics arrived. Luke Johnson of the Advocate has all the details:
Crazy story: Dr. Jerry Poché (father of Jared) & Jimmy Roy (dad of strength coach Travis) performed CPR on a UF fan @ the game & revived him
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
Here's what happened: In the sixth inning, a man collapsed near the LSU parents section. Kellie Freeman (Cole's mom) called for Dr. Poché
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
Dr. Poché started chest compressions on the spot. Kept it going for what he thought was 5-7 minutes before paramedics arrived.
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
Roy, whose son Travis is the strength and conditioning coach, has been a fireman for the last 30 years. Started providing mouth to mouth.
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
Crazy thing is, Roy had never done mouth to mouth. Always used a machine. This was a first.
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
They revived him tho. He was conscious by the time the paramedics got there. Paramedics called Dr. Poché and said he's in stable condition
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
Here’s what Dr. Poché told The Advocate about the situation:
“The man died,” Poché said. “He didn’t have a pulse; he didn’t have nothing. It looks like, luckily, we got him back.”
[…]
“The main thing is, when he left in the stretcher, he was conscious and nobody was doing compressions,” Jerry Poché said. “It looked like he was going to make it. They brought him to the emergency room and I talked to the senior paramedic over here at TD Ameritrade, and he said the old man is stable. That’s awesome.”
“He’s alive now,” Roy said. “He was done. He was done. He wasn’t breathing; he didn’t have a pulse, and me and Doc brought him back.”
Amazingly, that was not Dr. Poché’s only good deed of the postseason. He also tended to a young fan who got hit by a foul ball during a previous game.
Dr. Jerry Poché also tended to the kid who got hit in the head with a foul ball the other day.
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) June 27, 2017
It never hurts to have a doctor in the stands. Even if they’re a fan of the other team.