Bellbrook graduation 2012
Fairfield Senior 2012 graduation
Kroger Aquatic Center opens
Dunbar junior recovering after nearly dying
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Darion Brandon was dying on a basketball court but felt like he was in water.
"When I was unconscious, it seemed like I was having a dream that I was drowning and I was in some deep, deep water, like an ocean or something, and I just couldn't get out and I was trying to gasp for air and I couldn't," the Dunbar High School junior said Monday, March 31.
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"I could see the lady a little bit — doing CPR on me — then when I came to, I could see everybody, but it was blurry. I heard what everybody was saying, I just couldn't respond back."
Brandon, 18, is recovering from open-heart surgery March 26 at the Cleveland Clinic. He's been told he likely can play basketball again.
A starter this past season at Dunbar, the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder collapsed at an AAU basketball practice March 15 at The Hoop in Columbus.
His heart was restarted by a nurse — the mother of an AAU player on another team. After a few days in a Columbus hospital, Brandon was transferred to Cleveland.
If all goes well, his mother will bring Brandon home today.
"I think it was just a miracle," said his mother, Carisa Bursey, "I think it was a true blessing that she was there. I spoke with her and she said she just happened to be there. ... I thank God that I'm not planning a funeral and that all we had to do was plan a surgery."
