{"id":222124,"date":"2026-03-26T22:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/222124\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T22:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:34:08","slug":"three-plano-lifeguards-honored-for-life-saving-measures-taken-after-resident-collapsed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/222124\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Plano lifeguards honored for life-saving measures taken after resident collapsed"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Dong collapsed while playing table tennis, lifeguards Zane Arnold, Christopher Gardener and Brandon Lekas began CPR and used an AED. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Plano Fire-Rescue<\/a> recently honored three Plano Parks and Recreation<\/a> lifeguards for their actions aiding Zelong Dong, a man who experienced cardiac arrest on Feb. 20 at Carpenter Park Recreation Center.<\/p>\n

When Dong collapsed while playing table tennis, lifeguards Zane Arnold, Christopher Gardener and Brandon Lekas began CPR and used an automated external defibrillator (AED). Dong regained a pulse before Plano Fire-Rescue arrived on scene, and was transported to the hospital \u201cneurologically intact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn\u2019t be able to stand here, but I\u2019m standing here all because of you.\u201d Dong said<\/a>. \u201cYou are the reason I can get home and see my wife and play with my friends again and enjoy everyday life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arnold, Gardener and Lekas were honored at a ceremony on March 19 at Carpenter Park Recreation Center with a certificate, patch and challenge coin.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting that training into action without hesitation takes a special individual,\u201d said Battalion Chief Ryan Strutton with Plano Fire-Rescue. \u201cThat is not a normal thing, no matter how much training you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked as a team, and with proper training, we were able to handle the situation,\u201d said Brandon Lekas. \u201cAt the end of the day, life is precious, and it\u2019s good that he gets to live out the moments and celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Dong collapsed while playing table tennis, lifeguards Zane Arnold, Christopher Gardener and Brandon Lekas began CPR and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-222124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}