SAUGUS GIRL A REAL LIFESAVER
Quick action got her dad needed attention
Ten-year-old Asia Leedy-Andreozzi was in the backseat of the car tossing around her soccer ball, heading home from practice with her dad, when she noticed he didn’t look right.
“I asked him if he was going to pass out,” Asia recalled, “and he said no.”
But her father, who was later diagnosed with cardiac syncope, a condition that causes fainting spells when blood pressure drops, pulled into the breakdown lane along Route 1 in Peabody.
His eyes blinked and his arms flailed and he passed out.
That’s when Asia saved the day.
The Saugus fourth- grader recalled her heroic actions on the morning of Jan. 7 from her home last night, hours after receiving a Lifesaving Award from the Massachusetts State Police, an honor given to civilians whose actions save other lives.
As Asia’s father, Joshua Leedy-Andreozzi, fell unconscious, Asia unbuckled her seat belt, got out of her booster seat and reached into his shirt pocket for his cellphone to call police. When her parents leave her and her big sister, Ruby, alone at home, Asia told me, they tell them to call the police if something bad ever happens.
But her father’s phone was in his back pocket, and she couldn’t get to it. So Asia got out of the car on that cold day, stood in the breakdown lane behind the car and began waving at the busy traffic whipping by.
“I waved my hands and pointed to the car,” Asia said.
Two mothers stopped. Asia told them what happened and they relayed the information to a 911 dispatcher. Then they ushered Asia into the front seat of their warm car. State police quickly arrived.
“I told them what happened to my dad,” she said. “I was kind of scared.”
Asia’s 31-year-old father, a teacher in Medford, was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Two months later, he was diagnosed with cardiac syncope and now takes blood pressure medication.
Joshua recalled that he didn’t feel good throughout that day. He had fainted before but never while driving. He remembers pulling over but before he could hand Asia his phone to call her mom or 911, he fainted. He’s grateful for his daughter’s actions.
“She’s a very capable young girl, very able to see a situation and just solve it,” Joshua said.
“She acted above and beyond. I’m proud of her. At the time, I didn’t exactly know what was going on and so it could have been a lot worse. She did exactly what we would want.”
Yesterday, Asia put on her pretty Easter dress and rode to the State House ceremony in a state police cruiser. The troopers who responded that morning had nominated Asia for the hero’s award.
Asia said it was “cool” to receive the honor.
When she’s older, Asia said, she wants to be a police officer.
They’d be lucky to have her.