In Pennsylvania last week, a number of people including neighbors, first responders, emergency technicians and hospital staff worked together to do what many might consider the impossible: they successfully saved the life of a 22-month old boy who had drowned in icy waters.
Young Gardell Martin had been playing with his brothers outside his Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania home on March 11 when he suddenly went missing. His 7-year old brother, Greg, alerted his mother, Rose Martin, who was also unable to find the child. Fearing that he had fallen into the creek which ran through their property, she immediately called 9-1-1.
Shortly thereafter, a neighbor spotted the child about a quarter of a mile away from his property. He was caught in a branch in the creek. The child had no pulse when the ambulance crew arrived and they immediately began working toward resuscitating the child. CPR continued unbroken on the scene, in the ambulance, in an emergency medical helicopter and finally at Geisinger Medical Center, where he was taken. In all, emergency personnel and doctors performed 101 minutes of uninterrupted CPR on the little boy.
In what many hail as a miracle, Gardell eventually regained his pulse and hours later became fully conscious with no signs of brain damage or any other noticeable side-effect other than some minor balance issues. Dr. Richard Lambert, one of the attending physicians stated that a full recovery following this sort of ordeal was extremely rare.
Surely, without the quick thinking and heroic actions of everyone involved, this story would have had a tragic ending. Dr. Lambert says that his team is still rejoicing over their medical victory, stating that it “provides us with a smile on our face, knowing you were part of something this wonderful and amazing.”
You can read more about this amazing story here.
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