Girl reunites with lifesaving heroes
Jayden Arnold nearly dies when she fell into her parents’ swimming pool at the age of 2
I find it pretty amazing. I never thought I would actually get to meet the people that saved my life. Jayden Arnold
A911 call can be life-changing for both the caller and the paramedics who respond. Jayden Arnold’s life was on the line, 17 years ago, and now she was able to thank the two men whose quick action saved her.
Arnold wrapped her arms around both Derek Norris and Roy Stanley at a BC Ambulance station on Fairview Road in Penticton Friday, thanking them for the life she has been able to live since that day in Surrey all those years ago.
“I find it pretty amazing. I never thought I would actually get to meet the people that saved my life,” Arnold said.
Norris and Stanley were on the scene in minutes after Arnold, two years old at the time, had fallen into the pool in her parents’ back yard. After performing CPR, they were able to get the toddler to the hospital.
It was a coincidence and the result of a social media post of a letter Arnold’s grandmother wrote that led to the three reuniting for the first time in 17 years in Penticton.
Norris, now a primary care paramedic in Penticton, remembers the day quite well.
“The biggest moment for me at the call, Roy was ventilating and I was doing CPR, I felt for a pulse and I remember thinking ‘that pulse doesn’t match what I’m doing.’ I said ‘Roy I think there’s a pulse,’ and I put the stethoscope on the chest and I could hear her heart beat. That’s when we started to transport right away,” Norris said.
For Stanley, now an advance life care paramedic and acting duty supervisor in Kelowna, the moment that sticks out the most is the following day.
“When she crawled up on my lap and gave me a hug. It’s been 17 years since my last hug (from her),” Stanley said.
They all now happen to live in the same area and Arnold is graduating from the Okanagan Cosmetology Institute next week. She thanked the paramedics for helping her achieve a full and happy life — going to school, getting her driver’s licence, and taking trips to Disneyland and England.
“WIthout guys like these I wouldn’t be here today. They do save lives, they change a lot of people’s lives. My mom wouldn’t have me as her daughter. My grandma wouldn’t have me being here today,” Arnold said.
They all reconnected when a letter her grandmother wrote, thanking the paramedics, was posted on social media.
“People started asking who was on the call. Derek saw the picture and remembered right away and he called me,” Stanley said. “I think Jayden affected my life just as much as I affected hers. Her story has been told many times to many classrooms throughout the 17 years.”
Linda Arnold, Jayden’s grandmother, was there for the reunion. She penned the letter that made it all possible.
“I’m so pleased my letter had such positive ramifications,” Linda said. “Those two paramedics have always had a place in my heart for 17 years. Every day, every success that Jayden has had has been part of their success as well.”
Having names and faces to put to the paramedics who saved her granddaughter’s life is very special to Linda, she said, as well as having the opportunity to give the two a hug.
“It’s exceptionally special, it has managed to have been pulled together like this,” Linda said.
Linda, a nurse for more than 40 years, knows better than most what paramedics have do deal with in their day-to-day lives.
“In the hospital, we have all the equipment and we have back up, we have everything and often know what to expect, even in trauma. These people when they leave the ambulance station, they have no idea what they’re going to be actually facing,” Linda said. “And they manage to kick in with all their skills, deal with that situation and make the very best outcomes they can, and they pay a price emotionally for it. They dedicate every shift to serving all of us.”
Her smile beamed while revealing her plans to treat the paramedics to lunch and get to know them a bit better.