One day, Karen Garrison was shopping at Empire Dance Shop with her son Nolan. All of a sudden, Nolan stopped breathing. Karen had no idea what to do. She didn't know CPR and was completely paralyzed with panic. The store clerk, Lesley Reckford, saw that Nolan was turning blue and called 911.
That was when, only a few blocks away, car mechanic Jeff Olson's phone began to beep. He saw the signal, dropped everything he was doing, and ran.
Olson uses an app called Pulse Point; it alerts trained civilians when CPR is needed nearby. The 911 dispatcher notified Olson via the app. Despite being in the middle of working on a car and not telling his boss he was leaving work, he kept his cool as he rushed to the location.
When Olson ran into the store, he saw Nolan blue and lifeless. He immediately began to perform CPR. Garrison and Olson had no idea if the child would survive.
Then, they heard it. Nolan was crying. If Nolan could cry, it meant he could breathe!
"I am eternally grateful to him. If he hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened," Garrison told KREM. Olson and Garrison's story remind us that there are heroes everywhere — sometimes, all you need is a fancy app to find them!
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