Joe Beshold: Real-life hero

Updated: May 10, 2012 11:47PM

Joe Beshold was doing what he loves to do on the afternoon of April 16 ­— watching his daughter Kelly play in her freshman softball game at Schaumburg.

Then, right after the game, Schaumburg volunteer assistant coach Rich Keller, 63, collapsed.

“The game was just finished, we met with the team and I was going to pick up third base and I felt dizzy and collapsed at the spot,” Keller said. “I was told that one of the parents began doing CPR. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the emergency room. That’s all I remember.”

While Beshold continued the CPR with no response from Keller, who began to turn blue, trainer Kelly Wika immediately retrieved the Automated External Defibrillation (AED) device, which was stored at the nearby varsity softball field. Wika engaged the AED unit to Keller and revived him on the second shock treatment.

Paramedics arrived and stabilized Keller, who had suffered cardiac arrest.

“Joe visited me in the hospital and described everything that happened,” Keller said. “I can’t thank him or the trainer enough.”

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