Isabella glanced at her three friends — Hana, Bella and Jessie — smiled and softly told them: “Thanks for saving my life.”
The longtime pals then engaged in an emotional embrace, which had people nearby on the verge of tears.
On Tuesday night, the girls (whose last names are withheld for privacy reasons) gathered at Redmond City Hall for their harrowing and yet uplifting story to be told in front of their families and friends. Also present were City of Redmond firefighters and medics and the 9-1-1 dispatcher who all had a hand in keeping 12-year-old Isabella alive after she went into cardiac arrest at about 5 p.m. on April 19.
Hana, 11, Bella, 12, and Jessie, 15, received hero medals on Tuesday for their roles in alerting Isabella’s family and the 9-1-1 dispatcher and two of them performing CPR — along with two adults — on Isabella on a trail near a lake in the Redmond/Sammamish area.
“It feels good,” said Isabella of her friends coming to her rescue. “I’ve known them for most of my life. I’m real happy.”
CHAIN OF SURVIVAL
Isabella, a Sammamish resident, had pre-existing heart issues and her parents always told her friends that if she fainted to call 9-1-1. As the four girls strolled along the trail on April 19 toward Isabella’s home for a belated Easter party, Isabella became tired and leaned against a tree to catch her breath while her friends ran ahead of her.
The girls soon stopped and wondered why Isabella wasn’t with them, and they ran back down the trail and found Isabella unconscious and not breathing. In a whirlwind of activity, Hana ran to the party to alert family and friends, Bella used Jessie’s phone to call 9-1-1 and the dispatcher, Chris Perez, determined that they needed to start performing CPR. Bella began the compressions and then Jessie — who received CPR certification in her middle school health class — took over before the adults arrived to continue helping Isabella.
Led by Capt. Drew DeFazio, a pair of Redmond fire units were soon on the scene in less than six minutes and crew members took over CPR and delivered a single shock from an automatic defibrillator. Paramedics arrived on the scene and provided advanced cardiac support to get Isabella’s heart restarted and transported her to Children’s Hospital in Seattle. She awoke two days later, had open-heart surgery the following week and returned home a week later.
At Tuesday’s gathering, DeFazio noted that Perez handled the situation well in focusing, calming and directing the kids to help Isabella, who was already scheduled to have heart-valve surgery the following Friday. It was all about teamwork and performing well under pressure, DeFazio said, adding that there was a chain of survival present — from the girls to the dispatcher to the medics to the hospital physicians.
“If any single one of these links fail, then Isabella isn’t sitting here today,” DeFazio said.
Isabella has been feeling well over the last few months.
“It’s been better, I feel good. I’ve been doing more than I had when I just got out of the hospital,” she said on Tuesday.
Mayor John Marchione said the City of Redmond has a 65 percent save rate of heart attacks.
“It’s because we have public education and it’s because we have great people like the ones who we are (talking) about tonight that make the survival rate so high. It takes a community to get this done,” he said.
Added Jan Sprake, executive director of the Medic One Foundation, at the meeting: “45 years ago, a cardiologist at Harborview, Dr. Leonard Cobb, had an incredible vision. He and Chief Gordon Vickery of the Seattle Fire Department thought that it would be a great idea to train the community to help them in (CPR) response. And I think it’s so cool that that vision is living today because of what you girls did in times when Isabella really needs you. So, you’re part of our exclusive group.”
FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE
Hana of Woodinville said it was a nerve-wracking situation when she witnessed her close friend in need of medical attention. Isabella’s a big part of the girls’ lives and they knew they had to help quickly.
“I’m just glad that (Isabella’s) still here with us today and that I got to help with part of that,” Hana said.
Redmond resident Bella said that she and Isabella have been best friends and inseparable since preschool. Isabella’s the quiet one and Bella is on the loud side, but they balance each other out. Both girls smiled at each other as Hana and Jessie nodded their heads in approval of Bella’s comment.
Bella’s adrenaline took over during the intense incident in April.
“I don’t think I was really thinking, then after, we both kind of broke down,” Bella said after she and Jessie performed CPR. “I just think (Isabella) is an angel put on Earth and she’s meant to be here.”
When Perez told the girls they need to start CPR, Jessie, also a Redmond resident, noted: “I guess my training kind of kicked in and I just automatically just began doing that. In the moment, it didn’t really feel like I was saving her life, I just felt like I was doing what I had to do.”
Jessie said she’s glad that her good friend is alive and well.
Photos: The girls meet 9-1-1 dispatcher Chris Perez for the first time in person. Middle, they receive their hero medals. Bottom, outside City Hall. All Andy Nystrom photos.
