13-Year-Old Boy Saves His Baseball Coach's Life by Administering CPR, Calling 911
— -- A 13-year-old Arizona boy has been credited with saving his baseball coach's life by administering CPR and calling paramedics when the man collapsed on the field, suffering what turned out to be a heart attack during practice.
Isaac Wenrich, a minor league baseball player with the Florence Freedom of Kentucky who coaches kids during the off-season, was running drills last month with eighth-grader Nathan Boyer in Chandler, Arizona.
The two were alone on the afternoon of March 28 when Wenrich, 26, collapsed.
"Nate knew to roll me over, he got my phone and called 911, he started CPR," Wenrich told ABC News today. "I'm beyond thankful. I think the Lord brings people in your life for crazy reasons and he just happened to put Nate in mine.
"There's not many kids out there like him." Wenrich, who has been coaching Nathan for two years, said. "He is just such a hard worker with the most amazing personality. He is such a well-rounded 13 year old.
He added: “I wouldn't be here today if he wasn't in my life."
Julie Boyer, Nathan's mother, said, "Isaac has been a great mentor to Nathan. He moved in the middle of seventh-grade and it was a really hard transition for a kid. Anytime I felt like Nathan was down, Isaac would always give him a pep talk."
Boyer described her son as determined, humble and hard-working. "He is not your typical 13-year-old. He does everything 110 percent," she said of Nathan, who who was in school and unavailable to comment today.
Katy Huetter, Wenrich's girlfriend, said, "Nathan had to do CPR for 4 minutes before the paramedics got there. They said if he didn't do CPR, Isaac would be dead right now."
"I never met him but now he’s part of our family." Huetter said today, adding that Wenrich expects to play again this summer. "We want to honor this kid as much as we can; he is a hero."
