By:Joseph Kellard
Ex-EMT saves four-year-old drowning victim
He was working on a pond he made in his garden when he heard screams of "Oh my God, he's not breathing!" Five years after retiring from helping to save lives professionally, Chris Cahn employed his knowledge of CPR to save the life of his four-year-old neighbor, Ciaran Connolly.
Last Tuesday, Ciaran, his mother Audrey, brother Shea and three of Shea's friends were spending the late afternoon in the Connolly's backyard where there is an in-ground pool. Without a splash heard by anyone, Ciaran was suddenly floating face down in the pool when one of Shea's friends asked, "Is Ciaran supposed to be like that?" After hearing his mother's screams, Shea quickly pulled his brother out of the pool.
"It took me about 20 seconds to realize where the screams were coming from," Cahn said. He then ran to Connolly's pool area just outside the home he rents on their property and found Ciaran lying on the ground underneath the pool's slide. "His face was as blue as the sky, and as far as I was concerned he was DOA," Cahn said.
Cahn gave the young boy chest compression that at first made him regurgitate some water, but within a minute he was not breathing again. "I resumed compression and eventually got him to take a breath every 30 seconds and finally I got him to wheeze slowly."
Cahn, 28, acquired his CPR know-how during his late teens while working as a volunteer for Point Lookout/Lido Fire Department. He received his Emergency Medical Training (EMT) there and later went to work at the Long Beach-based Transportation With Care Ambulance Company for three years. That was the last time he performed CPR. Saving Ciaran was the first time he'd performed it by himself.
"I don't feel like a hero," Cahn said. "It was just a reaction."
At the time her son was drowning, Audrey Connolly said that she had it in the back of her mind that Cahn was in the EMT and she thought to tell Shea to go get him.
"This happened under amazing circumstances because it was the only day Chris was home that week," she said.
Shea called 911 and a team of approximately 25 personnel from local fire departments arrived on the scene. At first, Ciaran was brought to Long Beach Medical Center and then transferred to the pediatrics unit at North Shore University Hospital. Her son was back to normal condition within hours, which doctors told her was unusual considering his circumstances.
"Doctors told me that what Ciaran experienced usually doesn't turn out well, even for those who survive," she said. "That he was back to normal conditions within 24 hours is incredible."
Connolly said that her husband is working with Ciaran on his swimming and that the whole family will eventually learn CPR. She also said her son remembers little of what happened. That Cahn saved his life, however, he will remember forever.
