Mom's CPR saves toddler's life - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Boone County - A toddler survived life-threatening moments because adults jumped into action with just seconds to spare.

It happened at a rural home west of I-65, near County Road 550 South in Boone County. The scene went from quiet to chaos in a matter of minutes when two-year-old Evan Pitcher nearly drowned in the family pool.

"Nothing could ever prepare you for seeing your own flesh and blood sitting there floating in a pool," said Eric Pitcher, Evan's father.

Evan and his father were playing outside when dad went in the garage to get a broom. He was gone just two minutes.

"And that's all it took," said Eric Pitcher. "As I got closer to the pool, I just seen him floating there. There was no ladder. He climbed the sides and got in on his own. It's a four-foot-tall pool. He's a two-year-old."

Pitcher dove in after his son, while a neighbor, hearing the parents' screams, called 911. Evan's mother Staci started CPR.

"He was lifeless. I thought he was dead. And I just kept pumping him and pumping him and breathing in his mouth," she said.

With their infant in their arms, still barely breathing, the family rushed Evan to the Boone County Sheriff's Department, where police, firefighters and medics laid the little boy out and immediately started working on him. Soon they heard the first signs of survival. Evan started to cough a bit on his own.

"It was kind of like oh my God, he's gonna be okay," said Eric.

Doctors at St. Vincent call Evan a "miracle baby." He's now breathing on his own and has no brain damage. Medics and police credit his mom's knowledge of CPR for saving the boy's life.

"It is so important for you to be able to rescue breathe for somebody, be able to give those chest compressions if you need to. And clearly, this shows it can make a difference," said Ken Campbell, Boone County Sheriff.

"I learned it as soon as I got pregnant and I knew I'd have little kids," said Staci.

"It was the right time, right place, right knowledge and right instincts," said Eric. "Grace of God. I mean grace of God!"

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