After going through a tragic, eye-opening event, one family is using their experience and newfound knowledge to help others learn about how to act quickly in the event of an emergency.
The John-Luke Foundation is a non-profit organization created by Ashton and Jeremy Fischer, parents to John-Luke Riley Fischer. The foundation was started after John-Luke passed away earlier this year on Oct. 5.
At two-and-a-half months old, John-Luke had a massive heart attack in his sleep from a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. John-Luke’s mom says he had no symptoms leading up to his heart attack.
“We woke up to the Owlet going off,” Ashton said. “At 5:08, his heart rate was 144, and his oxygen was 100.
“At 5:10, it was 0 and 0.”
The Fischers knew what to do during John-Luke’s heart attack. Jeremy is a paramedic at Haynes Ambulance in Troy, and Ashton is an EMT. They started CPR on their son, then the first responders arrived.
According to the Fischers, one police officer arrived without an AED. Not even a minute later, first responders came and took John-Luke to do everything they could to help him.
The Fischers were grateful for the help, but they already knew the outcome.
“I knew God already had my baby,” Ashton said.
After the death of their son, the Fischers knew they wanted to help others who may experience the same tragic event as them.
The John-Luke Foundation works to educate and empower families on topics like CPR/AED, First Aid and drug overdose training.
“So many times in my career, I’ve heard family members and bystanders say, ‘I wish I would have known what to do; I wish I could have done more,’” Jeremy said. “We want to get involved with local hospitals and pediatric clinics, and we want to teach these parents signs to look for before it even gets to that.”
“We want people who don’t know what they’re doing to have enough faith in us to let us teach them the right procedures,” Ashton said.
The Fischers also want to support families who have gone through the same events as them.
“We also want to support other grieving parents who deal with stillborn and infant loss because there’s so many, and it happens so much,” Ashton said.
The Fischers believe everything happens for a reason. They are using John-Luke’s passing for good.
“God gave us two and a half months with that baby, and he only knew love,”Ashton said. “I think that was God’s purpose through this.
“God is in this story, and I think that was my baby’s job, and we’re just following through with it.”
Her husband agreed.
“I feel like that was his purpose to help, in this particular matter,” Jeremy said. “I feel like he was put here to teach others.”
Nick Alford works with the non-profit organization. Ashton and Jeremy said they are glad to have someone by their side who wants to get the cause out there just as much as them.
“Two days after John-Luke passed away, Jeremy called Nick, and he jumped right on it,” Ashton said.
They’re also grateful for the support their local community and surrounding communities have shown them.
“There’s people who I’ve never even met before who have messaged me on Facebook and thanked me for shedding light on something they relate with,” Ashton said.
Ashton, Jeremy and their supportive followers will continue to work to spread awareness and teach people vital information.
Right now, they plan to schedule more CPR classes for local communities and create a scholarship to support people who want to go to EMT school.
To learn more about the foundation and upcoming events, the foundation has a Facebook page that can be found at John-Luke Foundation.
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