By Abha BhattaraiThe Daily Northwestern

Five and a half years ago, Sean Wieber, then a Northwestern football player, watched his friend and teammate Rashidi Wheeler collapse mid-practice on Ryan Field.

Wheeler went into cardiac arrest and died.

Wieber, Weinberg ’02 and now in his third year at Chicago-Kent College of Law, never stopped thinking about his friend. And in January, he found a way to “achieve some good out of all the bad that had happened.”

He drafted a bill that calls for outdoor fitness facilities in Illinois to have at least one automatic external defibrillator (AED) on their premises. On Thursday, the Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill. It will now to move to the Senate, and if passed there, it can be signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Weinberg ’79.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said Wheeler’s death was caused by exercise-induced bronchial asthma. NU said it was caused by now-banned dietary supplements.

But Wieber, 27, says he’s always had a feeling that Wheeler’s death at age 22 could have been prevented with an AED. Mike Wolf, assistant athletic director for media services, said that for decades, ambulances with AEDs have been present during football games, but not during practices.

AEDs treat cardiac arrest, a condition that often becomes fatal within a matter of minutes, by helping monitor a victim’s heart beat and determining if defibrillation is necessary. If the AED evaluates the heart as “shockable,” two electrodes will emit an electric shock, allowing the heart to resume beating normally.

NU “phased” AEDs into its indoor facilities four years ago, but didn’t begin adding them to outdoor practice fields until a year later, said Tory Lindley, NU’s head athletic trainer.

Wieber said his legislation would not change or impact NU’s policy.

“We have emergency equipment, including AEDs, for all of our outdoor venues,” he said.

A 2005 statute by Rep. Daniel Burke (D-Chicago) required AEDs to be present at indoor fitness facilities. Outdoor facilities, which had originally been included in the bill, were negotiated out during debate, Wieber said.

So when Wieber approached Burke with his idea in late January, the state representative said it seemed like the “perfectly logical” next step.

“There’d been a rash of athletes collapsing on practice fields and gyms,” Burke said. “It sounded like a perfect opportunity to save lives.”

The idea came to Wieber in the middle of the night, just five days before he was supposed to present a legislative action plan in his legislative advocacy class. Four days later, he had the R.A.W. Initiative, named after Rashidi Ayodele Wheeler.

Wieber and Wheeler were both recruited by Gary Barnett, NU’s football coach at the time.

They met at 1835 Hinman Hall, where they stayed during pre-season practice and quickly became friends.

“I played alongside him,” Wieber said. “We hung out on the weekends and did the party scene in Evanston just like everybody else. We were going through all the things every student goes through, plus the experience of being thrown into such a competitive environment for the first time. We were very good friends.”

Wieber was holding Wheeler’s hand when he died on the field. He spent the next five years thinking about his friend.

“The project started as an in-class hypothetical and initially that’s all it was,” Wieber said.

William Kling, who has been teaching Wieber’s legislative advocacy class for more than a decade, said the AED project stood out because of Wieber’s personal ties to Wheeler and his family.

“Sean’s passion for the topic is obviously one of the unique aspects of this project,” Kling said. “He’d given a lot of thought to how this affects him as an individual, and the topic itself is an issue that resonates with people because you can actually save lives. It’s easy for legislators to wrap their arms around that.”

“And,” he added, “part of it is just being in the right place at the right time. A lot of different things came together.”

Wieber works for former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson at the Winston & Strawn law firm. With Thompson’s encouragement, Wieber contacted Burke after his Jan. 29 presentation. Burke filed a preliminary bill three days later.

“Within hours of my presentation, it became the real deal,” Wieber said. “I’d opened a door that had been closed for five and a half years. I couldn’t let it close again.”

Timeline:

Aug. 3, 2001Rashidi Wheeler, a 22-year-old Northwestern football player, dies during a summer practice session. His friend Sean Wieber believes an AED may have saved his life.Jan. 29, 2007Wieber presents a proposal mandating AEDs at all outdoor fitness facilities to his Legislative Advocacy class at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Later that day, he presents his idea to state Rep. Daniel J. Burke, D-Chicago.Feb. 15, 2007Burke files House Bill 1279.Feb. 20, 2007The bill undergoes a first reading in the Illinois House of Representatives.March 29, 2007In its third reading, the bill passes unanimously in the House, 112-0. It will now move to the Senate.

Reach Abha Bhattarai at [email protected].