SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio family is celebrating their daughter’s recovery and raising awareness about the importance of CPR after a frightening health scare earlier this year.
In March, Bianca Ximenez, a sixth grader at St. Anthony’s Catholic School, collapsed at school after returning from an out-of-state volleyball tournament.
The young athlete went into cardiac arrest at school while she was in PE class. Thanks to the quick action of her school nurse — who performed CPR — Bianca’s life was saved.
Now, the American Heart Association is honoring Bianca, now in seventh grade, as its “Child Survivor Champion” during this weekend’s San Antonio Heart & Stroke Walk.
The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, at Northeast Lakeview College in Universal City.
More than 5,000 participants are expected to attend the family-friendly event, which includes survivor celebrations and Hands-Only CPR demonstrations designed to train bystanders as lifesavers.
Bianca’s mother, Cassandra Ximenez, said she and her family are forever grateful to her school nurse, the SAFD first responders and the doctors and medical staff at Christus Children’s Hospital for saving Bianca’s life.
She said she is also grateful for the awareness the American Heart Association brings to the community and that Bianca is living proof of why CPR training is so important.
According to the American Heart Association, about nine in ten people who experience cardiac arrest outside a hospital do not survive, often because bystander CPR isn’t performed in time. The Heart Walk aims to change that by expanding access to CPR training and building community preparedness.
Participants can learn more or register for the event at SanAntonioHeartWalk.org.
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