Shock value: Pirates' rapid response saved Ernie Withers, inspired him to pay it forward

BRADENTON, Fla. — Ernie Withers stood in left-center field at Pirate City, where he almost died during a spring training workout a year ago, and reflected on how the Pittsburgh Pirates saved his life.

And, by doing so, saved his wife.

When Withers went into sudden cardiac arrest at the spring training complex, a Pirates doctor performed CPR and a trainer used an automated external defibrillator to resuscitate him. Withers credits their rapid response for bringing him back from the precipice of mortality.

“I got emotional being out there,” said Withers, 69, of Bradenton. “It was emotional to stand in the same spot it happened. I got a little teary-eyed there. It was amazing.”

The near-death experience inspired Withers to become an advocate for emergency cardiac response training, creating a nonprofit foundation that has donated AEDs to local businesses, schools and police.

Withers was a guest of the Pirates on Feb. 21, 2023, invited to stand in the outfield during batting practice, when he collapsed during the second full-squad workout of spring training.

It’s a date he will never forget.

“I’m blessed,” said Withers, a Youngstown, Ohio, native. “I’ve got two birthdays now.”

Withers returned to Pirate City on Thursday to thank Pirates Vice President of Florida and Dominican Republic operations Jeff Podobnik by presenting an AED to the baseball club in the name of Matt McNamee, a trainer who rushed to use the device to resuscitate Withers.

“If I was anywhere else,” Withers told TribLive, “I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.”

‘He was lifeless’

As chairman of the Manatee County Chamber of Commerce, Podobnik invited fellow board members to Pirate City to stand in the outfield to shag fly balls during batting practice. Podobnik told Withers to go to Field 1, where the team’s marquee players were hitting.

When Podobnik stopped to speak with Pirates medical director Dr. Patrick DeMeo and equipment manager Scott Bonnett, who were sitting in a golf cart along the left field foul line, he saw Withers hold his mobile phone above his head to take video of Andrew McCutchen.

A moment later, Kevin Young’s shrill scream for a trainer brought the workout to a sudden halt. A man was lying on the grass in left-center. It was Withers. He didn’t have a pulse.

“My heart just dropped,” said Podobnik, who followed Withers as the Chamber of Commerce’s chairman of the board. “He was lifeless. I ran to Dr. DeMeo and said, ‘Get out there now!’”

Within seconds, Bonnett drove DeMeo in the golf cart to Withers. Withers was soon surrounded by team doctors and athletic trainers. When a call came across the radio for an AED, McNamee ran toward the Field 1 bench and retrieved it from the back of another golf cart, then sprinted to where Withers was being treated.

“I’m faster than the golf cart,” said McNamee, 31.

DeMeo, an orthopedic surgeon, was performing chest compressions on Withers. Director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk pulled out medical scissors, and minor league athletic training coordinator Casey Lee cut the shirt off Withers. McNamee arrived with the AED, and Withers let out what looked like a deep yawn and started breathing again.

“It’s extremely terrifying because you don’t know,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said this past week. “We were far away from it. The initial thought is, you don’t know if it’s one of your players or your staff members. Then we realized that it’s someone who’s a guest. The credit goes to our training staff and our doctors.

“We’re very fortunate — and Ernie’s very fortunate — that it happened as close in proximity to the clubhouse. I’m so proud of our group and how they handled it and how quickly they jumped into the situation. It’s a worst-case scenario. You don’t know how people are going to respond. It just shows our staff’s training. They just jumped right in. You can’t be more proud of a group like that. It was an organizational win.”

‘Anything I can do’

The retired general manager of a Mercedes Benz dealership, Withers is making the most of his second life. He’s on a mission to pay it forward in a way that saves more lives from sudden cardiac arrest.

Withers and his wife, Cindy Lou, wanted to give back to the Bradenton community in which they reside and do business. The first thing they did was get trained on how to perform CPR and use an AED.

It inspired them to create the nonprofit Defibrillate Manatee Foundation, which has raised $50,000 in its first year, including a $10,000 donation from Pirates Charities. His goal is to raise $100,000 through donations to Manatee Community Foundation at manateecf.org.

Withers’ foundation already has donated 45 defibrillators — which cost up to $1,800 — as well as 10 CPR mannequins and 10 simulators to businesses and schools in Bradenton. Its biggest donation was 21 AEDs to the Bradenton Police Department upon learning that officers didn’t have them in patrol cars.

“Anything I can do … to bring more awareness to it,” Withers said. “It’s not about me. It’s about people like you and others who don’t have the medical experience. If they get certified to do CPR and learn to use an AED, they could be like the Dr. DeMeos.”

Withers also became chairman of the American Heart Association’s annual river walk and is pushing for legislation that would require athletic coaches to receive ongoing CPR and AED training and schools to have cardiac emergency response plans.

His passion for the project proved fortuitous.

A longtime Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan who did business with the NFL franchise, Withers had formed a friendship with former Bucs placekicker Martin Gramatica. When Gramatica learned about Withers’ sudden cardiac arrest, he asked him to do a promotional spot for his company, Life Guard Imaging, and offered Withers free full-body scans.

The Witherses took Gramatica up on the offer, only for the scans to reveal that Cindy Lou had a softball-size cancerous tumor in her right kidney. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 kidney cancer — known as the “silent killer” because of its difficult detection — and is now healthy after having her right kidney removed May 16.

“The doctor said if I didn’t have my sudden heart attack and we didn’t have those body scans, it wouldn’t have been detected and we would have never found out,” Withers said. “It would have been too late.”

‘We just did that’

Within a week of his near-death experience, Withers had recovered enough to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park. Afterward, he spent an hour talking with DeMeo in a press box suite. They have kept in touch, and Withers remains grateful to the doctor whose quick reaction kept him alive.

“He told me, ‘You saved my life — and my wife’s life.’ What I said to him was, ‘It wasn’t me who saved your life. It was God. It wasn’t your time,’” DeMeo said. “How many times do we shock people and they don’t come back? I was just an instrument who did His job. I don’t know if gratifying is the right word, but it’s a great feeling knowing you helped another human being. As doctors, that’s what we do.”

Once Withers was revived, McNamee turned around and was stunned to see all of the Pirates’ players, coaches and staff standing near second base. He was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t realize he had an audience.

“I was like, ‘We just did that,’” said McNamee, who then called his wife and told her, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I just saved someone’s life.”

McNamee deflects credit to Tomczyk for preparing the staff for emergency medical situations through trainings and DeMeo and Dr. Todd Franco for doing CPR.

“It’s one of those things you talk about and plan for,” McNamee said. “Nobody ever wants to do those annual trainings, but it sheds light on what (Pirates President) Travis Williams says: ‘If you want to be a premier destination for events and entertainment, you have to establish emergency action plans.’ It speaks to the Pirates and our preparation.”

The moment had a powerful impact on the Pirates. Within two weeks, McNamee was asked to lead a CPR and AED training for more than a dozen members of the front office, including Chairman Bob Nutting, Williams and Podobnik.

When the Pirates had their annual training this past Monday, McNamee was asked to speak about the chain of events that led to saving Withers.

“How could you start the training session without bringing that back up?” McNamee said. “We go through the mannequins and the paddles and the process. But we all lived it.”

Podobnik and Bradenton Marauders general manager Craig Warzecha discussed which charity to give Withers’ donation, only to learn that Withers already had donated AEDs to most of their Bradenton business partners.

“He’d already taken care of them,” Podobnik said. “That’s how fast Ernie got AEDs to this community. It’s a great story. He’s healthy and living his best life right now.”