- March 21, 2025
While playing tennis last November, Palm Coast resident Anthony Truong felt a pain in his chest and experienced shortness of breath.
That had never happened before. He was 51 years old and led a pretty active lifestyle, playing tennis at the city's Southern Recreation Center three to four times a week.
But at the encouragement of his teammates, he checked himself into the hospital. Truong was discharged 10 days later, after undergoing a triple bypass surgery.
"After everything cleared, I decided to go back to tennis and play," Truong said.
A month after returning to the sport, he was playing a league match on Feb. 3 at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach when he collapsed on the court.
Truong suffered a cardiac arrest — but thanks to the availability of an AED and quick action by tennis players, both teammates and from the opposing team, Truong survived.
Palm Coast Tennis team captain James Gonzalez was present that day as a spectator.
"We were just watching a normal tennis match between us and Oceanside Country Club," Gonzalez recalled. "I had turned my head just for a minute, and I heard someone say, 'Call 911,' and Anthony was on the ground just laying there."
His teammates sprung into action. Palm Coast Tennis player Dr. James Li, a local ophthalmologist, had been playing the court next to Truong when the emergency happened. Li and his tennis partner James Estigoy had just finished a game and, after a ball rolled onto Truong's side of the court, Li noticed Truong was on his back.
Li assessed him and did not find a pulse.
"I didn't panic yet," Li said. "I was thinking, 'OK, maybe I just can't find the vessel. Maybe I'm a little rusty at this.' I've been doing just eyes now for a few years."
But when it became clear Truong's heart wasn't beating, and he started to seize, Li immediately began to perform chest compressions.
As this was happening, players with the Oceanside Country Club were obtaining the Automated External Defibrillator.
"They brought it to the court, and they put the patches, according to the instructions on his chest, and we all stepped back," Gonzalez recalled. "... Our teammate David Delacruz gave him one zap and by the time the paramedics had come, his heart was back in rhythm, and he was stabilized, and he had a good heartbeat."
Two other doctors happened to be at the country club and helped save Truong's life: Dr. Joseph Mirante, an ear, nose and throat doctor, and Dr. Jim Bryan, an orthopedic surgeon. Mirante, of Ormond Beach, had come to watch the match between Palm Coast and Oceanside, and root for the latter, his home team.
Multiple people on the team knew that there is an AED at Oceanside, Mirante said. He was on the tennis committee when the country club obtained it.
"In any emergency, being calm, responding appropriately and having the right tools in the most important thing, but we're fortunate," Mirante said. "We live in an age where, with the AEDs, anybody can be a life-saving emergency responder."
As Gonzalez watched the emergency unfold, he said he was scared. He was watching a good friend in distress and was feeling helpless.
"It was very distressing it was for all of us that witnessed it that night," Gonzalez said. "You could see it all in their eyes."
Gonzalez visited Truong in the hospital two days after the emergency incident. His memory was fuzzy, but every few minutes, he would ask him if their team had won the match. (After the medical emergency, the match was postponed).
It was thanks to the AED and the CPR performed by Li that Truong was stabilized before paramedics arrived, Gonzalez said. It was the first time he'd ever seen an AED used on someone, and Gonzalez said it should be a tool any business that deals with the public should have onsite.
Mirante agrees.
"The most important thing, the reason that Anthony's still alive, is that Oceanside had a defibrillator, and that the members —and it wasn't the doctors, it was everybody — everybody knew to get it," Mirante said.
Li said he believes the first shock of the AED got Truong's heart back into rhythm.
"When EMS arrived, they had found a pulse already and they did not need to do any more chest compressions," Li said. "They just needed to support his breathing."
Li said he was surprised that Truong bounced back as quickly as he did.
"The fact that he came back the same version of himself — no deficits, no noticeable, permanent deficits — is pretty miraculous," Li said.
Truong said he's extremely grateful to all who helped him.
"They were very kind and selfless," he said. "I have small children, so I wouldn't be here today, without them."
He still has a long way to go before he's able to get back on the court, but Truong said the emergency has reminded him not to take his health for granted.
This month, he celebrated his recovery by taking his teammates to a hot pot restaurant.
"We took a team dinner to show my appreciation for the team, and everybody that was there helping — from the guy that called 911, to the guy that shocked me, to the guy that did CPR," Truong said. "Everyone played a part, because without them, I would have been dead."
