By Nick Buglione
After saving his younger brother Kyle, 5, from drowning in a friend's pool two years ago, the East Meadow youngster's quick thinking on July 10, during a situation that would have panicked any adult, helped prevent his grandmother Patricia Skinner from lapsing into a diabetic coma.
"Corey and Kyle both slept over that night," said Patricia, 62, who lives on Cooper Drive just across the street from her two grandsons, daughter-in-law Kim and son Walter.
The morning started out much like any other, with Patricia making tea and preparing breakfast for her frequently-visiting grandchildren.
A diabetic for the last 12 years, Patricia's doctor recently put her on new medication that raises her blood-sugar levels, consequently requiring her to increase the amount of insulin she takes before eating. Insulin helps maintain and regulate blood-sugar levels.
"We never knew what side effects I would suffer," Patricia said, noting that July 10 was her first day on the new medication.
She took the insulin about a half-hour before breakfast, as her doctor indicated, yet could almost immediately feel her blood-sugar decreasing rapidly. Symptoms of low blood sugar, technically referred to as hypoglycemia, include weakness, dizziness, rapid heart beat, headaches and trembling. In severe cases, a person suffering from it might lose consciousness and could even lapse into a coma.
"My husband had just left to go to the doctor, and I just began feeling really week," Patricia said. She knew she needed to get some sugar in her and fast.
"I had a container of orange juice in the back of the refrigerator, but I was too weak to get to it," she said. That's when Corey stepped in.
"I saw her upper body was drooping down and she could barely keep her head up," said Corey, explaining that from the looks of his grandmother he could tell the situation was serious. "So I opened the refrigerator and got the orange juice without panicking."
Too weak to even open the container, Patricia began fainting and muttered that Corey needed to get his mother, who was at home across the street, to help.
"I knew that if I ran across the street, by the time I got back my grandmother [would even be worse]," Corey said. Realizing time was of the essence, he picked up the phone and got in touch with his mom.
"I said, 'Mom, come quick, grandma doesn't look too good,'" Corey said. By the time his mother Kim got to the house, Patricia had blacked out in her bedroom and was in danger of lapsing into a diabetic coma. After a few glasses of orange juice, however, she revived and, thanks largely to Corey's efforts, didn't even have to go to the hospital.
"If he didn't have the presence of mind and my daughter-in-law didn't come over so fast, I don't know where I'd be," Patricia said. "Corey, I can't say enough about him. He's so smart. I made such a big deal about this, we even downloaded Mariah Carey's song 'Hero' to play for him the next time he came over."
About to enter the third grade at McVey Elementary School, Corey gets straight A's and is an extremely well-spoken young boy, rolling words like insulin and diabetic coma off his tongue with relative ease.
This his isn't the first time that Corey's actions helped avert a life-threatening situation. Two years ago at a barbecue at his friend Ryan's house, Corey, then 5, pulled younger brother Kyle, then 2, out of the pool after he fell in.
Corey was in the water, while Kyle was nearby sitting on the pool steps. "I told him that I was coming out of the pool, but I didn't hear an answer," Corey said.
Turning around to check on him, Corey found Kyle had fallen head first into the water, kicking and thrashing.
Though adults were close by, Corey was able to grab Kyle by his ankles and pull him closer, in order to get a grip on his torso.
"I was able to get him out, and I could tell that he was really frightened," he said.
His mother, Kim, who was nearby when the incident occurred, recalled that "it all happened so fast he had pulled him out before anyone could do anything,"
When he's not saving lives, Corey is more or less just an ordinary kid. He enjoys drawing, playing sports and going freshwater fishing.
Not many people will ever be able to say they've saved a person's life, let alone two, so Corey realizes that what he's done is outstanding.
"It kind of makes me feel special," he said modestly.
