MEQUON — “Imagine waking up in a strange place, no recollection of anything that happened in the past week," Humberto Barraza said.
Humberto Barraza is lucky to be alive.
“And suddenly, you’re being told you died. You flatlined three times.”
Back in October, Humberto Barraza thought he was just practicing a dance routine in his Concordia University Wisconsindorm. He was in the theater program. The next moment, he was in the hospital with no memory of what had happened.
"I grabbed my chest. I guess it felt tight or something, and then my heart was beating rapidly," Barraza said.
That's when he went back to his room to lay down. Then he started seizing. Had one of his best friends not been there, Barraza might have died.
“When you’re there and you got to do this to save your friends, like, right now, you can’t question it. You got to do it," Aidan Batiansila, Humberto's friend, said.
Batiansila performed CPR until first responders arrived. That's when medical professionals took Barraza to the hospital.
“Whenever I tell people, 'Well, you saved his life.' Well, no, I think God really saved my friend's life right there," Batiansila said.
Just the night before Barraza's cardiac arrest, he and Batiansila were talking late into the night.
"I told him, you know, I feel like you are my brother. You know, I've never had siblings, but I'm really glad I have you to get me through this. And then he jumped into action the next day to save my life. So I mean truly brotherly," Barraza said.
Sign Language Interpreter: Watch Aidan Batiansila explain what it was like during and after Humberto Barraza's cardiac arrest
He doesn’t remember the incident or the days after. He lost the memory of that moment in his life. Barraza was in the hospital for almost a month. Since then, he hasn’t been able to return to school and needs a cane to walk. He does physical therapy to regain his strength.
What caused the cardiac arrest and seizure was a genetic disease called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. It causes Barraza's heart to beat abnormally fast. After his hospital stay, he underwent surgery to fix that issue.
"I was distraught by everything that was happening to me, but now I'm fine. I'm cool with it. I'm learning to live," he said.
On Wednesday, Barraza returned to school for a ceremony that honored him and the people who saved his life. Everyone who helped received a special gold medal that said 'Life Saving Award'.
“I want to thank all of you for saving my son. For saving his life," José Barraza, Humberto's dad, said.
Despite going through one of the scariest things a person can experience, Humberto Barraza is in good spirits. He is cracking jokes with his friends and has a positive outlook.
“I flatlined three times in total, but I’m good now. I’m okay now. Heart's beating," he said with a laugh.
Barraza is learning to live again with the help of his community. During his hospital stay, dozens of friends, family members, first responders, teachers, and more visited him.
“You hear about it, right? On TV. But you don’t really think about, well, if this happened to me, who would come help? Everybody, apparently.”
Doctors expect him to make a full recovery, and Humberto will return to school in the fall.
Watch Humberto Barraza's story and how his friend saved his life...
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