12-year-old recovering after her heart stopped on Sequim soccer field

Ashtyn Messinger's parents credit the quick reactions of a coach and others with saving the 12-year-old soccer player last month after she collapsed on a field in Sequim.

Now, as Ashtyn recovers from heart surgery, the Messinger family is calling for better access to automated external defibrillators. Known as AEDs, they are the type of portable defibrillator the Messingers say helped save Ashtyn's life.

On May 17, the second day of soccer tryouts, Ashtyn started to feel a little off, according to her mother Charmaine. While Ashytn previously had some heart issues that still require monitoring, her parents described her as very active in both soccer and basketball. She is home-schooled, according to the Sequim Gazette.

Charmaine Messinger had left the field for a few minutes to look for new soccer cleats for Ashtyn before she started getting messages that something was wrong with her daughter.

Charmaine hurried back to the field and when she returned, "They just said she's not breathing, she has no pulse," said Charmaine, 32. "Obviously that's your worst nightmare."

The quick work by a coach and others administering CPR and a portable defibrillator that was nearby brought back Ashtyn's pulse and she was transported to Seattle Children's hospital. There, surgeons put a defibrillator into her heart.

"We need to figure out a way, as a community as a whole, to get AEDs to small communities," said Caleb Messinger, Ashtyn's father.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers considered Senate Bill 6118 by Sen. T'wina Nobles, D-Fircrest, that would require school districts to develop plans for how to use and where to station AEDs in schools and at their athletic facilities. The bill was voted out of committee with bipartisan support, but never received a vote in the full Senate.

Only 1 in 10 children survive a sudden cardiac arrest, according to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.

Chad Celestres, a coach for Ashtyn's softball team, organized a GoFundMe for the family to help pay medical bills and other expenses, which had raised more than $10,000 by Wednesday evening.

"We just want her to be better," said Celestres. "Her whole family has been a staple in our community the last few years."

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 6:41 AM.