AEDs Donated For Fallen Baseball Player

15-Year-Old's Heart Stopped Beating After Collision During Game

ST. MARYS, Ga. – A grieving St. Marys mother and father are trying to make sure no other family goes through the pain they have endured.

In May, Harold and Becky Cohn's son, Andrew Cohn, died during a baseball game after he collided with another player while running to first base.

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An autopsy revealed the 15-year-old's heart stopped beating.

Since their son's death, the Cohns have said they want automated external defibrillators to be readily available at athletic fields across the country.

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On Thursday, Cardiac Science donated three AEDs on behalf of the Cohn family, one to Dinsmore Park on Jacksonville's Northside, the same baseball field where Andrew died, one to Andrew's high school baseball team and one to Andrew's traveling baseball team that he was playing with when he died.

An AED costs about $1,000.

Andrew's family, coaches and teammates attended a dedication ceremony at field near the Cohn's home Thursday afternoon in his memory.

Rachel Moyer's son also died of cardiac arrest nearly 10 years ago while he was playing basketball.

"I walked in and I saw my son laying on the floor, and he wasn't breathing," said Moyer, founder of parentheartwatch.org. "So I knelt down next to him and I said, 'Sit up, Greg.' I said, 'Why aren't you breathing?' And he opened his eyes and he opened his mouth. Nothing came out. And no one's doing anything."

An AED was the only thing that could have saved his life, but the school didn't have one. Since then, Moyer has made it her mission to make sure every school across the country is equipped with one while raising awareness on its importance.

Moyer said when she heard about Andrew's story, she had to reach out.

"We would feel 100 percent better had we known an AED was there," said Harold Cohn, Andrew's father. "Maybe it wouldn't have revived him, but that peace of mind, we would just all feel 100 percent better knowing that everything was done that could have been done to save our kid."

The Cohns said they're hoping by teaming up with Moyer that together, they can make sure Andrew's death wasn't in vain.

"Realize another kid doesn't have to die before we recognize the need to have these simple machines available that could make the difference between life and death," Moyer said.