LITTLE ROCK, AR (KATV) — What started as a regular high school basketball game in Cabot quickly turned into a life or death emergency when a referee collapsed on the court after suffering cardiac arrest.
Nosakhere Holcomb was officiating a Cabot girls Junior Varsity basketball game in November when he began to feel dizzy during the second quarter.
“I’m standing there and I start feeling a little bit dizzy, and I remember saying to myself, okay at halftime you’re going to need to eat something and drink some water,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb never made it to halftime. He collapsed on the court, suffering cardiac arrest as players, coaches, and fans watched in shock.
“They saw me die, during a basketball game,” Holcomb said.
Cabot High School Athletic Trainer Jennifer Asberry-Mathis rushed onto the court, joined by parents in the stands who had medical training. Nurse Denise Hicks, whose child plays for the team, began performing chest compressions while others worked to get an automated external defibrillator (AED.)
“You never think it’s going to happen to you,” Asberry-Mathis said. “You train for it and you pray it never happens and it did.”
Holcomb was shocked with an AED and regained a pulse before being transported to the hospital.
“Whatever they did is what allowed me to be taken to the hospital and make it to the CCU, and get a stent put in my heart,” Holcomb said. “None of that’s possible if those nurses aren’t here, if that woman isn’t there to take care of me. If those parents aren’t here, I’m not here.”
Doctors later discovered Holcomb had a 99% blockage in his main artery. He now has a heart stent and a heart monitor.
Nurse Denise Hicks said the moments on the court were uncertain.
“Whenever we saw him on the court and were taking care of him on the court we weren’t sure what was going to happen,” Hicks said.
Another nurse and parent, Katie Boyd, said seeing Holcomb afterward was emotional.
“Watching the video was definitely emotional, but very happy and blessed that his life isn’t finished here on earth,” Boyd said.
Weeks later, Holcomb returned to the Cabot High School gym, walking through a tunnel of cheering students and staff as he reunited with the people who saved his life.
In the Edo language of Nigeria, the name Nosakhere can mean God stands by me. For Holcomb, that meaning became real inside a high school gym.
“Basketball saved my life,” Holcomb said. “Basketball literally saved my life.”
Cabot Public Schools are considered heart safe schools, meaning staff are trained for cardiac emergencies and AEDs are readily available. Holcomb has since returned to the court and continues doing what he loves.