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High School Sophomore Saves Brother Using CPR
It was a typical night at the Lob house.
The in-laws were visiting and the family was snuggled in for the
evening. They had all shuffled beds, making room for the visitors.
Thoughts of the good times to be had the next day flurried through their
heads as they drifted to sleep. But something else was lurking, waiting
for a moment to surprise them.
That Terrifying Night...
Late into the night, Bryce, 11, turned
blue and became unresponsive while he was sleeping. His father, Brad,
discovered his son in this frightening state. He quickly moved him to
the living room floor and tried to resuscitate him. Bryce remained
motionless and breathless. The house scurried as each family member
awoke to this horrifying development.
Bryce’s mother, Risa, tried to call the
paramedics for instructions on how to help her son, but the house phone
was useless. The phone line was not working since the panic button on
the alarm system, which shares the line with the home phone, had already
been activated. Bryce was running out of time. His grandmother quickly
ran to get his sister, Brittany.
But what could a 15-year-old sophomore
in high school do? The answer is simple: save
her brother’s life.
Brittany had just completed a course in
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at the offices of the American Heart
Association, a United Way-funded agency.
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane...
Without hesitation, Brittany jumped in
to save the day. She quickly recalled the training she received from the
American Heart Association’s CPR instructors.
“We were really lucky,” Brittany says.
“I never thought I’d have to use CPR!”
“I’ve since gotten my CPR training,”
adds Risa. “The training also helps build your self-confidence [for
handling any situation].”
Pursuing such life-changing knowledge
was a good idea, considering that Bryce had experienced a gran mal
seizure. It was from his visit to the hospital that night that doctors
determined Bryce was epileptic. His seizures can appear with little or
no warning while he’s sleeping, just as it did that fateful evening in
November.
While Bryce doesn’t remember having the
seizures, he feels incredibly lucky that his big sister had received
training from the American Heart Association and was there to save him.
“We’re all really close,” Brittany says,
speaking of her family. “It’s obviously important to have CPR training.
Someone you love could be in danger at any time!”
“Or even someone you don’t know,” Risa
adds.
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