JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – What started as a normal day at the pool quickly turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. But one mother’s training and determination helped bring her daughter back to life.
X’Kyra Curry had turned 9 years old just three days earlier, and the Green family was wrapping up the last of her birthday celebrations with an afternoon at the pool.
X’Kyra’s mother, Essence Green, says her daughter pushed herself off the side of the pool too hard and moments later became unresponsive in the water.
“I finished pulling her out the pool. I guess I got all my mom’s strength or whatever. Pull her out. She was limp, her eyes were rolled back in her head. She was foaming at the mouth and not breathing,” Green said.
Green had previously been working toward a career as a paramedic and EMT before life took her in another direction.
When her daughter stopped breathing, that training came rushing back, and she immediately began CPR.
And X’Kyra began breathing again.
Green rushed her to HCA Florida Memorial Hospital, where doctors stabilized her before transferring her to Wolfson Children’s Hospital for specialized care.
Doctors later told Green that without CPR, her daughter would not have survived.
“We just lost my mom to heart failure last month. And thank God he saw fit to relieve us of that additional grieving, because our family would have been going through that again if X’Kyra had not made it,” Shenika Green, X’Kyra’s grandmother, said.
The American Heart Association says immediate CPR can double or even triple a person’s chance of survival after cardiac arrest, giving first responders valuable time to provide advanced care.
“It was a really, really scary time when it happened. So being here in the exact spot, it’s a testimony,” Green continued.
Green says she hopes to return to her dream of becoming a paramedic.
“There are a few obstacles that’s obstructing me from doing that, but hopefully I can be able to get it done,” Green said.
When every second counts, knowing CPR could potentially mean the difference between life and death.
For this family, it made all the difference.
If you’re looking to learn CPR or freshen up your skills, the American Red Cross offers CPR training classes online or in person.
For more information, click here.