A Vancouver Island boy was rescued by strangers with CPR. Rod and Lisa Huneault are hopeful that they will find the strangers who rescued their son from drowning in the Taylor River, pulling him from the brink of a waterfall and performing CPR.
Rapid delivery of CPR
As Rod along with his friend and 11-year old son, Lucas were heading home from a camping trip in Ucluelet, the group stopped at a popular swimming hole on the river west of Port Alberni.
Lucas was a strong swimmer but he went around a bend in the river and his dad lost sight of him. Lucas was swimming face-down when he got into trouble.
According to Huneault, the last thing Lucas remembered was his foot got stuck. It was like being suckled into a vortex into the waterfall.
A man he knows only as a respiratory therapist noticed Lucas in the current heading toward the waterfall, just before what could be called as the “danger zone”. The man initially though that the boy was in control, but soon realized that he was stuck. The man jumped down and reached through the water and grabbed his arm. Seconds later, Huneault arrived and jumped in. He had one arm out of the water and another man held the other arm out. At least 4 people helped including a doctor.
Huneault got in behind Lucas and put him in a bear hug to pull him to safety. The boy was unconscious when they retrieved him and it was estimated that he was underwater for up to 4 minutes.
The respiratory therapist led the CPR efforts. A faint pulse was restored after 30 seconds to a minute. In a minute and a half, he started to breathe through the mouth and nose.
As they were helping with the resuscitation efforts, someone drove down the road to get cellphone reception and called 911. Lucas was airlifted to B.C. Children’s Hospital.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid and CPR course and for more information, check out these sources:
WebMD: First Aid for Drowning Treatment
Wikipedia: Understanding Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)