SNOHOMISH — The Snohomish County Medical Examiner has determined that a middle school student who collapsed during a cross-country meet at Snohomish High School died of cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease.
Merridy Stilwell, 12, collapsed Sept. 29 in an apparent seizure, and her heart stopped beating, said John Hinchcliffe, a battalion chief at Fire District 4 in Snohomish.
Firefighters who arrived at the high school in less than four minutes used their defibrillator to administer electric shocks to Merridy’s heart.
Medics and doctors were unable to revive the seventh-grader. She died at Providence Everett Medical Center.
The high school did not have an automatic defibrillator. It was sitting on a shelf, waiting for approval from the school board.
In the Lake Stevens School District, where Merridy was a student, all schools have automatic external defibrillators.
Since the incident the Snohomish school board passed a resolution to get defibrillators in some schools and train at least half of the district’s employees to use the devices.
Even if the defibrillator was immediately used, it may never be known whether it would have saved Merridy.
"That’s something I couldn’t say," Hinchcliffe said. "I don’t know if any earlier defibrillation would have made a difference."
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