He is a little unsteady on his feet, but for now, just getting to the prom is a big deal. If not for the skill of some spectators at Cardinal Gibbons' lacrosse game against Providence Day on Saturday, an automated external defibrillator and some luck, Beuris would be dead.

"I think I've always known what to appreciate in life," he said Thursday at his Cary home, "but I've changed a little bit.

"I know how close I came to dying. You don't think your time is coming when you're this young, but it almost happened."

In lacrosse, players use sticks with webbed pockets to pass a 5-ounce rubber ball and shoot it toward the goal. A shot struck Beuris in the chest slightly below and to the right of his left nipple.

Such a blow can trigger ventricular fibrillation if it strikes at exactly the wrong time in the heart's electrical cycle -- a condition known as commotio cordis.

"His heart was just fluttering," said his father, Greg Beuris.

Alex, who was an all-state lacrosse defender in 2007, has no memory of what happened next, but he threw off his helmet, collapsed and went into spasms.

His heart had stopped beating, and he had stopped breathing.

Gibbons teammate Rory O'Brien immediately motioned for his father, Dr. Patrick J. O'Brien, the medical director of WakeMed rehab.

"I had read about this type of injury in U.S. Lacrosse," Dr. O'Brien said. "I knew about this type of injury. You see it primarily in lacrosse and baseball."

Luckily, two other physicians, both Providence Day supporters, also were at the game.

The three doctors began emergency treatment. O'Brien began chest stimulation. Dr. Eric Laxer, an orthopedic surgeon from Charlotte, started mouth-to-mouth ventilation, and Dr. Lee Ann McGinnis, an anesthesiologist from Charlotte, began to set up the defibrillator. Another spectator raised Beuris' legs toward his shoulders, trying to force blood to the brain.

Three doctors and four nurses were doing all the right things, but Beuris probably would have become the third high school lacrosse fatality since 1982 and the second from commotio cordis, if Gibbons had not had the defibrillator on-site.

It took three electrical jolts from the machine to restart Beuris' heart.

Gibbons has had a defibrillator, or AED, since 2001. When Beuris was a freshman, one of his duties was to carry the device to games.

"I was low man on the totem pole, so I got the job," he said. "They told me the machine cost $2,000 to $3,000, so I never messed with it."

He remembers nothing about Saturday's episode on the field. He recalls being hit with a stick early in the game and later being at the hospital -- gasping for air while having an MRI exam taken.

His heart has been checked and rechecked. It is healthy, although there is a recovery process.

His body is slowly healing itself. His memory is improving. His stamina is improving. He is expected to make a full recovery.

The family's den is filled with oversized cards. A giant iced cookie sits on the kitchen table.

Beuris is gradually returning to a more normal life. He made a brief appearance at Gibbons' 14-4 lacrosse victory over Orange on Wednesday night and went by school for a few minutes on Thursday.

Greg Beuris said his life has changed, too.

"How do you repay someone for saving your child's life?" he asked. "It is a huge debt that I owe to the doctors."

Because this story has a happy ending for his family, Greg Beuris wants to do everything he can to help ensure there will be happy endings for others.

"The AED gave me back my son," he said.

All Wake County public high and middle schools have at least one AED.

Dean Monroe, the Cardinal Gibbons athletic director, said he has been inundated with calls from small rural schools, private schools and others wanting to know about the devices.

Said Monroe: "We have two, and we are going to get some more very quickly."