Twenty Seconds to Decide

The kid's heart stopped right in my hands. Thirteen years old, car accident,

and I'm doing compressions while my partner screams we're two minutes out. His mom is wailing

behind me. I'm exhausted, my arms burning, but I keep going. Then I see it.

His medical bracelet. DNR. Do Not Resuscitate. His mother never told us.

I lock eyes with her through the rearview mirror and she's shaking her head,

begging me to continue. Twenty seconds to decide. I kept going. We got him back.

The ER doctor later told me the bracelet was from a previous illness, outdated,

not legally valid anymore. But in that moment, I didn't know. Would you have stopped?