Matt's Mission installs new AED at Veterans Memorial Park

Matt’s Mission, a nonprofit raising awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and funds to donate automated external defibrillators, has added its fourth AED in Winter Garden. 

Joe and Andrea Cobb, along with their son Matt, created the nonprofit after Matt Cobb suffered from sudden cardiac arrest while at work in 2020. He was 20 years old and healthy, but even then, the doctors gave him a 50% chance of waking up. 

Luckily, he survived, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. 

Located at Veterans Memorial Park, 420 S. Park Ave., Winter Garden, the new AED was placed in front of the softball field inside a SaveStation, which is monitored, ventilated and illuminated. It is only a few feet away from the pickleball courts, as well. 

It was dedicated to the Anderson family, who lost their 10-year-old son, Sean Anderson, to sudden cardiac arrest in 2004. At the time of his cardiac arrest, an AED was not available for more than 10 minutes, which severely decreased his chances of survival. 

Joe Cobb said people can read Sean Anderson’s story on the SaveStation, allowing people to understand sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. His story spreads awareness. 

“We’re super grateful for Matt’s Mission for honoring our son and placing a device where a lot of people — children, teens, young adults and older adults — gather and that it’s available 24/7,” Sean’s mother, Martha Anderson, said. “That’s super important, because sometimes, buildings or facilities can have an AED, but after normal business hours, it’s not accessible.” 

Although Veterans Memorial Park closes at 10 p.m., the AED will be available after hours. 

AEDs are designed so anyone can use them, with or without training. 

The machine walks the user step-by-step on how to use it, from instructing him or her to call 911, perform CPR and where to place the electrode pads. 

Andy Anderson said what makes this AED and other SaveStations so important is their accessibility. An ideal goal of delivering a shock to someone who has collapsed is between three to five minutes. 

The Andersons have donated more than 180 AEDs throughout West Orange with the same purpose as Matt’s Mission. 

Martha Anderson also is the executive director for a national nonprofit, Parent Heart Watch, which has a mission of protecting children and young adults from sudden cardiac arrest and preventable sudden cardiac death by educating and advocating for change. 

According to the American Heart Association, a victim’s chance of survival decreases by 7% to 10% every minute that passes without defibrillation. 

“Our goal is to save lives and to prevent another family from going through an unnecessary loss,” Andy Anderson said. “This equipment can save someone’s life — not just an adult’s, but also a child’s.”

According to Matt’s Mission’s website, cardiac arrests claim more lives than car accidents, breast cancer, pneumonia, HIV, house fires, firearms, influenza and prostate cancer combined and can happen at any time to any person of any age. 

Having an AED in public spaces becomes crucial in increasing survival chances for those suffering from a cardiac emergency.

“Knowing that someone will have a chance of survival because this life-saving device is here (at Veterans Memorial Park) available at any time is incredible,” Martha Anderson said. “All the work that we do is so that more lives are saved and hopefully nobody else has to go through the heartache of losing a child that was seemingly healthy. That’s something you never get over, but doing this work helps us by helping other people.” 

The city of Winter Garden also offers free, 90-minute hands-only CPR classes for residents. The classes also cover choking relief and AED usage. 

“It’s better to do something than nothing at all,” Martha Anderson said. 

Matt’s Mission hopes to continue placing AEDs around Winter Garden, with a goal of placing eight every year. 

And while that goal hasn’t been reached yet, Joe, Andrea and Matt Cobb are tenacious to make it happen. 

They also hope to influence Winter Garden to become a HEARTSafe Community, in which the city would establish proactive steps to protect residents from sudden cardiac arrest, such as teaching community members to recognize warning signs and symptoms of a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, offering training classes and placing AED machines throughout the city.