By Elisabeth Martin
The Chicago Sun Times
MOKENA, Ill. — When Cameron Harper learned CPR last year, he never thought he’d have to use it.
But last month, the 12-year-old Frankfort boy drew on what he had learned to help save the life of a 5-year-old boy who nearly drowned in a swimming pool at a Wisconsin motel.
“I’m glad I paid attention in class,” Cameron said.
Next Tuesday, the Mokena Fire Protection District, where Cameron attended CPR training, will honor him for helping save the boy.
“I have been handling public education for 19 years, and this is the second time that I know of that someone who took one of our classes had a CPR save,” said Jerry Johnson, the district’s fire and life safety educator. “But even if it only happened once in 19 years, it makes every ounce of effort we’ve put into it worthwhile.”
On Feb. 6, while Cameron and his family were at the Cranberry Country Lodge in Tomah, Wis., they noticed a commotion by the side of the pool. Tyler Martin had been pulled unconscious from the water. Cameron ran over to help as others worked to revive him.
“His eyes were halfway open, and there was water inside his mouth,” Cameron said. “He was turning blue, so it was pretty scary.”
Tyler’s mother, Jacinda Edwards, said she and her husband were playing with their children in the pool when she turned to watch her other two kids go down a water slide.
A moment later, Edwards’ stomach dropped as she saw her son floating perfectly still in the water in his Spider-Man swimsuit.
“I had just looked at him; he was bobbing around, playing around. I looked away for two seconds, and he slipped under,” said Edwards, of Sparta, Wis.
Cameron helped two others who had started CPR on Tyler, applying 30 compressions to the boy’s chest over two minutes.
He said he didn’t perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation because there was water in Tyler’s mouth.
Cameron credits the two CPR classes he took — one through the fire district, and another at St. Mary School in Mokena.
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