On the morning of December 6, 2024, life changed in an instant for 18-year-old CJ Henly.
Tall and athletic at 6 '6”, CJ was in his second-period English class at Coronado High School in Las Vegas when he collapsed from a sudden cardiac event. Teachers thought at first he might be having a seizure. His mother, Danielle Henly—who works as the school’s office manager—was just down the hall in a meeting. Like so many times before, when the school’s intercom buzzed with a classroom call, she assumed it was routine.
But this time was different. When an assistant interrupted her meeting and led her to the classroom, Danielle instantly realized something was terribly wrong. “Oh no,” she remembers thinking, “that’s CJ’s class.”
What she found was every parent’s nightmare: her youngest child lying face down and unresponsive.
Within moments, administrators, the school nurse, and other staff jumped into action. One called 911, another ran to grab an AED from down the hall, and another began CPR. Paramedics arrived within minutes—including CJ’s own football coach, Luis Gonzalez—and rushed him to St. Rose Dominican Hospital – Siena Campus, part of CommonSpirit Health.
Life Support and a mother’s shock
At Siena, doctors worked urgently to stabilize CJ. In the ICU, it became clear that his heart needed advanced support. Dr. Neel Dhudshia and the perfusion team initiated ECMO—ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation—a highly complex, around-the-clock life support system that temporarily takes over the work of the heart and lungs.
That lifesaving ECMO system was available at Siena because of donor generosity through the St. Rose Dominican Health Foundation. Philanthropy had made it possible to invest in this cutting-edge equipment, as well as the specially trained perfusion team required to run it 24/7.
For Danielle, the moment was surreal. “That morning, he was dancing in the kitchen, showing off his new UNLV gear,” she said. “And now my son was on life support.”
Over the next few days, a stream of support surrounded the Henly family. Coaches, principals, teachers, teammates, and friends filled the waiting rooms. Nurses like Synthia Armstrong reassured Danielle, saying, “Your baby is going to be okay, but you have to bring him back to see me when he is up and about.”
Philanthropy at work: bringing life-saving care to Siena
The ECMO system that was keeping CJ alive was made possible thanks to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust which granted $6.8 million to the foundation to fund the ECMO program and improve cardiac services at Siena Hospital in Henderson.
The state-of-the-art procedure can save lives in cases that otherwise would offer little chance of survival and can act as a bridge to those needing heart or lung transplants.
“ECMO can be a game changer for patients with severe heart and lung conditions,” said Walter Panzirer, a Trustee with the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Without these philanthropic investments, this level of critical care would simply not have been available in Las Vegas when CJ needed it.
But CJ needed care that went beyond what any single hospital could provide.
The Strength of an Integrated System
Over the next 48 hours, Siena’s clinicians worked tirelessly. Hospitalist Dr. Kelly Newton recommended CJ be transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, where pediatric cardiology expertise could be added to his care.
Thanks again to philanthropy, Flight for Life was available to transport CJ across state lines. On December 8, he was flown to Phoenix with a full medical team and a perfusionist by his side to maintain ECMO throughout the journey.
At St. Joseph’s, a multidisciplinary team — including intensivist Dr. Raed Suyyagh and specialists from Phoenix Children’s — joined forces to guide CJ’s fragile recovery.
Danielle recalled how nurses like Paula and Ebony cared for CJ with extraordinary attention, brushing his teeth, protecting his braces, and speaking to him as though he could hear. “The love and dignity they gave him, even when he couldn’t respond, meant everything,” she said.
On December 11, CJ was removed from ECMO. The next day, he was extubated and woke up to his mother’s voice: “Hey baby, hi my love.” He wept, then quickly returned to his playful self, joking with the family and asking questions.
On December 17—his sister Amiyah’s birthday—CJ received an implanted defibrillator. On December 19, just before Christmas, he was discharged.
A Community’s Embrace
Back in Las Vegas, CJ’s recovery was celebrated as nothing short of a miracle. Local news outlets called him “a walking testimony to God’s work”. Coaches, teachers, principals, and friends filled hospital waiting rooms to support the Henly family.
A GoFundMe campaign launched by Coach Shawn Dupris’s wife Rachel raised more than $28,000 from 300 donors. The outpouring of generosity helped offset travel, lodging, and medical costs for the family, reminding them that they were not alone.
CJ’s story also inspired Vegas For Athletes, a nonprofit, to host a free heart-screening event for young athletes in February 2025. They are now advocating for legislation to make such screenings a standard requirement for sports participation.
Gratitude and Looking Forward
In March, Danielle kept a promise: she brought CJ back to Siena to thank the ICU staff who had stood vigil at his bedside. Tears, hugs, and photos marked the reunion.
“CommonSpirit gave me my son back,” Danielle said. “I’ll never forget the way everyone — our community, our schools, our doctors and nurses, our hospitals — came together to save him.”
Today, CJ has begun a new chapter at UNLV on a football scholarship and dreams of pursuing a career in sports media. “I feel great,” he says, “but I do worry a little bit about what happened.” His best friend, he says, is his sister Amiyah.
Though CJ’s cardiac arrest remains unexplained, his survival underscores the value of an integrated system powered by philanthropy.
The Value of CommonSpirit
Without philanthropy, ECMO would not have been available at Siena. Without philanthropy, Flight for Life might not have been ready when CJ needed to cross state lines. Without the integration of CommonSpirit Health, CJ would not have had seamless access to advanced pediatric expertise at St. Joseph’s.
From a high school classroom to two CommonSpirit hospitals across two states, CJ’s story is proof: philanthropy saves lives, and CommonSpirit’s scale makes it possible to care for patients in ways no single hospital could do alone.
For Danielle, that truth is simple. “This system gave me my son back,” she says. “How do you ever say thank you for that?”
