WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The mother of a former Hirschi student who suffered a scary cardiac arrest episode and remains in critical condition is stressing the importance of knowing life-saving CPR measures.

Layanna Nash said her son Anighus Nash is fighting for his life, and she’s urging people to learn CPR as this could happen to anyone

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare

“I was actually asleep,” Layanna said. “I had spoken to him earlier, probably like two or three hours before that, so I was actually asleep and received a call from another parent that was speaking with her son that was there on the scene.”

Layanna Nash’s 19-year-old son Anighus Nash had just suffered a cardiac arrest episode in his dorm room at the University of North Texas.

He’s now recovering in the ICU, with a long road to recovery ahead. This kind of thing has doctors all across the nation wondering why it keeps impacting younger people.

“One out of one hundred thousand will have a cardiac arrest while playing competitive sports,” one doctor said.

“A teenager may say ‘I kind of felt my heart race abnormally,'” another doctor added.

While Anighus, a business major at UNT wasn’t playing sports at the time, he’s a former Hirschi Husky, and his mom said he’s always been active playing sports with his friends.

In fact, it was one of his friends and dorm mate that sprung into action during the emergency.

“I am truly grateful that he did take out the time to do that, had Bryson not did that, I probably wouldn’t be looking at my son in the eyes right now today,” Layanna said.

Anighus’ friend Bryson knew CPR, and it made the ultimate difference.

Anighus didn’t ever have any underlying medical issues, so she’s curious to know why these kinds of emergencies happen.

“Sometimes these things only kind of come out when you ask the right question,” said another medical professional.

As for Anighus, he’s making progress.

“Coming from the doctors, he’s doing things that they wouldn’t expect him to do eight days after the incident,” Layanna said.

And if you’re thinking of getting CPR certified?

“Don’t think about it,” the mother said. “Do it because it could be your child’s life.”

It could make a life-saving difference.

If you would like to support the Nash family during this tough time, a link to the GoFundMe can be found here.