An 11-year-old boy credited the television show “NCIS” with teaching him basic CPR skills that he used to save a girl’s life at the Marina Dunes.
Connor Fitz-Gerald was playing in the sand with a group of other children at Marina Dunes, California, when he noticed something strange, Little Things reports.
Alyssa Bostic, 5, was trapped under a mound of sand when the cave she was digging collapsed on top of her. There were no adults present to help the children.
The boy immediately leaped into action, digging her out and removing the sand from Bostic’s face. The girl was knocked out and had sand in her mouth, nose and eyes.
Luckily, Fitz-Gerald was able to perform CPR on Bostic, saving her life.
“I picked her up, dragged her a little bit off the hill … and I started giving CPR,” says Connor, according to KSBW.
The 11-year-old had never even been trained in the procedure, but used what he knew from watching CPR on TV. Amazingly, it worked and Bostic came to.
“I am glad [Connor] was able to sit back and go, ‘OK, wait a minute something’s going on, there’s not a parent here, I know they’re at least a quarter mile away, I need to do something,’” his father, Tim Fitz-Gerald, said.
Once adults saw what was happening, they immediately called 911.
The ambulance later arrived and paramedics praised the 11-year-old boy, saying that if he hadn’t been there, then the situation could have been fatal.
Fitz-Gerald was later awarded with the National Youth Hero Award from the American Legion Auxiliary.
Bostic has since made a full recovery.
