Seventeen years ago, Jayden Arnold died in Surrey.
On a sunny summer day, the two-year-old fell into a pool in her family鈥檚 backyard. Bystanders pulled her out of the pool and immediately called 911, but she was clinically dead when paramedics arrived on scene.
Those paramedics were Roy Stanley and Derek Morris.
鈥淚 guess the biggest moment for me on the call was Roy was ventilating and I was doing CPR, and I felt for a pulse, and I remember thinking 鈥榯hat pulse doesn鈥檛 match what I鈥檓 doing,鈥欌�� Morris said. 鈥淚 said 鈥楻oy, I think there鈥檚 a pulse,鈥� I put my stethoscope on her chest and I could hear her heartbeat.鈥�
Even though the paramedics were called to the scene of Jayden鈥檚 drowning 17 years ago, Morris said he remembered the call specifically.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not that many calls that we do where we have a successful outcome from a pediatric cardiac arrest,鈥� Morris said.
鈥淭he biggest moment for me, actually, was the next day, when she crawled up on my lap and gave me a hug,鈥� said Stanley. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I was saying to her, it鈥檚 been 17 years since my last hug.鈥�
The two got their opportunity Friday morning in Penticton to meet the now-19-year-old woman who wouldn鈥檛 be here if not for their quick work.
鈥淚鈥檝e had many different experiences in my life. At five I went to elementary school, at 10 I got to go to Disneyland, 16, I got my 鈥� learner鈥檚 (licence), I got to go to England with my grandma and sister,鈥� she told a group of reporters and paramedics gathered at Penticton鈥檚 ambulance station.
鈥淎t 17 I graduated, and then at 18 I was on my way down to Okanagan to start school, and I would have actually gotten to do any of that if it wasn鈥檛 for these two men.鈥�
Linda Arnold, who drove down from Quesnel, said she got to see her granddaughter grow up thanks to a pair of men whose faces and names she never knew until Friday morning.
鈥淭hese two men have been in my heart for 17 years, they have a place in my heart. And everyday when I think about the things I have in life that make me grateful, the fact that these two men came into my life, obviously, is a tremendous sense of gratitude, because I have this beautiful granddaughter who I may have had to visit her grave,鈥� Linda said.
鈥淭hese two men have been part of my thought processes every day for the last 17 years.鈥�
Linda has been able to see Jayden go through elementary, middle and high schools, and throughout her whole education Linda said she has wanted to be a hair stylist. And in a week she will be able to see that dream fulfilled.
She pointed to 鈥渨atching her now as an adult spread her wings and see the world鈥� and a trip the two took to England a few years ago as some of the special moments she would have otherwise been denied.
She said it was 鈥渞eally special鈥� to finally put a face to the two men who brought her granddaughter back to life all that time ago.
鈥淚 just wouldn鈥檛 miss this day for the world. It鈥檚 so special to be able to physically give them a hug and have names and faces that go with the skills and the memory,鈥� she said.
That memory is a painful one for Linda.
鈥淵ou anticipate that your life is going to change, and your family is going to have a tragedy that you will never get over. You will learn to live with it, but you鈥檒l never get over it,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he fact that she was actually responding (when Linda arrived), but we still didn鈥檛 know then whether she was going to actually have any kind of residual either in kidney failure or brain damage or neurological damage. You celebrate that she鈥檚 alive and you鈥檝e still got her. You also anticipate that maybe there is going to be some challenges in the future.鈥�
Linda said she is always cognizant of the fact that Jayden not only survived the ordeal, but she is, 17 years later, unscathed by her own death.
鈥淪he may have had brain damage, she may have had neurological damage, she may have had kidney damage. Because of their skills, and because they were learning new skills all the time, she has no damage,鈥� she said, noting Jayden was tested yearly after the incident.
鈥淪he graduated in high school on the honour roll, so bottom line is those paramedics did a super, super job.鈥�
Jayden said her parents and grandmother taught her all her life about respecting the work of paramedics, but she never expected to be able to meet the two who saved her life. But in January she moved to Penticton, where, coincidentally, Morris now works. Since the incident, Stanley also transferred to 91大黄鸭.
It was a social media post that got the ball rolling for the reunion, with Morris immediately recognizing the story in the post as the one he鈥檇 lived himself, and one that had shaped his and Stanley鈥檚 lives.
鈥淚 think Jayden affected my life just as much as I affected hers,鈥� Stanley said. 鈥淗er story has been told many times to many classrooms throughout the 17 years.鈥�
dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
Like us on and follow us on .
