Ravens’ Mark Andrews helps save life on flight, offers his diabetes kit to stabilize heart rate, per passenger

Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 9 years old, and on Thursday his own medical condition helped someone dealing with a situation he knows all too well. According to Andrew Springs, a fellow passenger on a Southwest flight with Andrews, the NFL player sprung into action when a woman had a medical emergency mid-air.

Springs describes the scene on the plane, saying a woman on the flight from Baltimore, Maryland, to Phoenix, Arizona, was in need of medical attention. 

“The doctor and nurse attending to her couldn’t find a strong pulse, her blood pressure was extremely low, and required oxygen to breathe. It was genuinely scary,” Springs tweeted.

Andrews, according to Springs, then got out of his seat, asking “Could it be her blood sugar?” and offered his diabetic testing kit. Andrews then assisted the medical professionals on the flight, instructing them on how to use the test kit. 

Her heart rate eventually stabilized, according to Springs. Once the plane landed, paramedics were ready to assist the patient.

Springs noted that Andrews got off the plane quickly, without any “fanfare.” Andrews put out a statement through the Ravens on Thursday afternoon, calling the flight attendants, as well as the nurse and the doctor who were on the plane, the “real heroes.”

Andrews had his own medical emergency in college, when he was unresponsive and his roommate, Oklahoma teammate Wesley Horky, had to call paramedics.

“I kind of came back into it … I just opened my eyes a couple hours later and see six random men standing around me,” Andrews said, recalling the incident. “Am I alive or am I dead? It was a big wake-up call, and it wasn’t later until I realized that these were paramedics and they were there to help me.”

The scare resulted in him taking more precautions, including using a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor, a small monitor which is placed on the lower abdomen and can wirelessly send glucose levels to a smart phone or smart watch.

Andrews is an advocate for Type 1 diabetes awareness and mentors those who go through similar challenges growing up.