Union County- High quality CPR saved a Pennsylvania toddler’s life, according to first responders.
Gardell Martin was playing with his brothers in his backyard, when somehow the 22-month-old fell into an icy stream and was swept away.
A neighbor found the boy a half hour later, but he was lifeless, facedown in 34 degree water.
Emergency crews were called to the scene, and immediately got him out of his wet clothes and into an ambulance.
CPR was performed on the toddler for 101 minutes as they rushed to the hospital, but Gardell was without a pulse for more than an hour and a half.
“He did not have a pulse and he wasn’t breathing on his own and he had no neurologic function. All of those things were being done for him with the CPR and the breathing that was being done through the E-T tube.” Said Dr. Richard Lambert of Geisinger Pediatric Critical Care. “He’s dead.”
Gardell’s body was in a hypothermic-like state. As he was slowly warmed, his pulse and heart rate eventually returned.
Doctors will continue to monitor him, but they believe Gardell is well on his way to a full recovery.
