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Syracuse University student Alex McMillan with Dr. Christopher Tanski of Upstate University Hospital, who helped save McMillan's life at a basketball game in the Carrier Dome Feb. 4.

(Mike Okoniewski Syracuse Athletics)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - An emergency medical crew saved the life of a 20-year-old Syracuse University student in the Carrier Dome after his heart stopped beating during the Feb. 4 men's basketball game between SU and Virginia.

Alex McMillan, an economics major and a saxophone player in SU's Sour Sitrus Society, slumped over in the stands where he was sitting with the band just minutes after the game began.

Emergency medical technicians about 20 feet away started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. McMillan's heart resumed beating after he was shocked with an automated external defibrillator.

Upstate University Hospital, which staffs the Dome with emergency doctors, paramedics and emergency medical technicians during games, recounted the incident in a story on its website.

When he first got to Upstate's emergency room, a groggy McMillan kept asking if SU won the game.

SU beat Virginia 66 to 62.

McMillan, who is from Ashland, Massachusetts, was hospitalized and underwent a series of tests to determine what caused his heart to stop beating. His heart was normal structurally, but the problem appeared to be electrical. An Upstate doctor implanted a small battery-powered defibrillator in McMillan's chest to shock his heart if it ever stops beating again.

Dr. Christopher Tanski, an emergency doctor on duty in the Dome that day, said the outcome would have been different had McMillan been driving, or alone in his dorm room when he went into cardiac arrest.

Dr. Jeremy Joslin, director of Upstate's emergency department, marveled at McMillan's good fortune.

"If you put me in his shoes and I got to pick where I had this event, if it couldn't be inside a hospital, I'd want it to be in the Dome," Joslin said.

Contact James T. Mulder anytime:

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