13-year-old, woman's rescue of boy from drowning in pool caught on camera
A young friend and woman are now considered heroes after they teamed up to perform the incredible rescue of a boy drowning in a pool. The quick thinking of the two, which ultimately saved the boy's life, was all caught on a surveillance camera.
Evan, 12, was swimming with friends at a pool in Rochester, Minnesota, when he sunk to the bottom, while five fellow swimmers were splashing away.
Luckily, 13-year-old Cody Runyon sensed something was awry.
"I went underwater and all of a sudden I see him just lying on the ground just sitting down on 5 feet, just passed out," Cody told "Good Morning America."
The 4-foot-11, 80-pound teen rushed to the bottom of the pool and pulled an unconscious Evan to the shallow end -- the entire scene was caught on a surveillance video.
"I held him around the waist, put his head over my shoulder and I just carried him like that," said Cody of the Wednesday incident.
Desiree Pasko -- who suffers from a severe case of fibromyalgia and can barely walk -- arose from her wheelchair and ran over to the pool edge to assist.
She said that as Cody came towards her, Evan was "limp as can be, and the way his head is moving, it's shaking and his face is being dragged through the water -- he's not coherent, he's not alive."
She can be seen on the video squatting to lift the boy out of the water and setting him on the ground.
"He was so tiny in that moment, and he was blue, and he was cold, and he was wet, and he was clearly deceased," she said.
Pasko then began performing CPR that she said she'd learned from a decade ago.
"I did three breaths, and ten compressions and then I did two breaths, and then ten compressions. And then I did two breaths, and then his cheeks started to get a small amount of pink. And I could hear him gargle, so then I did two very quick, very forceful compressions," she recounted.
In the moment, Evan started coming to and started to vomit water as she remembered yelping aloud, "He's alive! He's alive!"
Evan said that the whole incident caused him to be "really, really scared."
But that after he realized he was saved, the fear turned to gratitude.
"They're definitely my heroes because without Cody and Des I wouldn't be alive," he said.
The moment was especially sweet for Pasko.
"Watching a boy go from totally blue to a little bit pink is a rewarding feeling," she said, weeping.
