A 14-year-old boy in upstate New York is being celebrated after helping save his grandmother’s life by performing CPR—while receiving real-time guidance over the phone.
“I’m very proud of him,” Michelle Hunt, grandmother of Ryan Long, told NBC affiliate WPTZ in a report on Friday, Jan. 30. “I’m very grateful and thankful.”
Hunt, who lives in Beekmantown, N.Y., said she returned home from work on Dec. 30 feeling unwell, according to local outlets The Sun and the Press-Republican. Ryan, a student at Beekman Middle School, was home with her.
Hunt said she spoke with a friend and mentioned she wasn’t feeling well, but her condition quickly worsened.
“My friend was worried, and [so] she called Ryan — he answered, he was home — and she told him, ‘Go get Lola’s phone and call me.’ He calls me Lola,” Hunt told The Sun.
When Ryan went to check on his grandmother, he found her in her bedroom vomiting, Hunt said. Still on the phone with her friend, Ryan tried to help—but Hunt soon “passed out,” she recalled.
“He couldn’t feel [my] pulse. My friend said, ‘I’m calling the ambulance, you call your grandfather,’ ” Hunt said.
Ryan called his grandfather, Charlie Hunt, who was at work. Charlie then contacted 911, according to the Press-Republican. Moments later, Ryan called again with alarming news: Michelle had stopped breathing—before first responders could arrive.
By then, Charlie was already at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital waiting for help when two nurses, Linda Dumbuya and Kaylee Miller, overheard the frantic conversation.
“I heard a kid screaming [through the phone] in the waiting room,” Dumbuya told The Sun. “Then I heard a man say, ‘Start CPR,’ so I ran out.”
Dumbuya took Charlie’s phone and spoke with Ryan via FaceTime, the Press-Republican reported, then coached him through chest compressions until help arrived.
“Every time he was like, ‘Oh, I feel like I can’t do it,’ [like just, ‘Yes, you can keep going,’ ” Dumbuya told WPTZ.
The coaching continued for about 15 minutes until New York state troopers reached the Hunts’ home.
“He kept me alive for over seven minutes, doing CPR nonstop,” Michelle later told The Sun. “That’s when police showed up, and they took over. They did CPR for three or four more minutes.”
Michelle was taken to the hospital, where she said doctors told her she had suffered a heart attack.
“The doctor says it was a freak thing, but he can’t promise it will never happen again,” she told The Sun.
On Friday, Ryan was honored with Beekman Middle School’s Eagle of Excellence Award and the CVPH Health Care Hero Award.
“There was a lot going through my head,” he told WPTZ. “It was a lot.”
“If you’re thinking of doing something that’s positive, then do it and don’t stop doing that,” he added.
According to the Press-Republican, Michelle attended the school ceremony and praised Ryan as a “living life saver, my living angel.”
