On Thursday, Jul. 27 Sgt. Steven Woodcox, detachment commander of the Kimberley RCMP, presented certificates of appreciation to Cranbrook鈥檚 Jason Sherratt and Kimberley鈥檚 Chris Pearson for saving the life of a three-year-old girl who nearly drowned in Wasa Lake on July 25.

鈥淭he reason that we presented some awards to these gentlemen today is the fact that they got involved and stepped up and took action. This is the reason this little girl is alive today so I just wanted to recognize the brave efforts of these gentlemen,鈥� Woodcox said.

鈥淭he family of the little girl couldn鈥檛 be happier for the action these two gentlemen took.鈥�

After receiving the certificates outside the Kimberley RCMP station they shared their story of what happened that day with the Bulletin.

Sherratt and his son Nixen, and Pearson with his two boys Cole and Cooper were out at Wasa Lake for a boys day. They were all playing football on the beach and then Pearson offered to take Cooper out on his aluminum boat, but as soon as they got out, it died, so they had to row it back to shore.

鈥淲e were just kind of tinkering with it, the boys kind of took off and went and played with other kids on the beach,鈥� Sherratt said. 鈥淭hen Coop and Nix just came barreling down the beach towards us and started screaming that there was a little girl drowning. At first we thought they were just pulling our leg, like no she looks fine, because we could see a little girl standing by the water screaming, then they pointed out into the water and they were like, 鈥榥o, look.鈥欌��

Sherratt said they lookd out and all they could just see a little bathing suit rolling in the waves, and they realized the boys were telling the truth. They then saw the girl鈥檚 dad running down the beach towards them.

鈥淐hris actually yelled at me and said, 鈥業 think that guy鈥檚 going to be gassed when he gets there buddy, we gotta go in too.鈥� We just ditched and ran into the water too and it was good thing we did, because he was gassed when he got there, and he was going down trying to hold her.鈥�

Pearson picked her up and the two of them were passing her back and forth as they were swimming back to shore. Once Sherratt could get his feet on the ground he took her, held her up and put her in the choked position for infants, laying her on her side and smacking her on the back to try and get water out of her lungs as he was coming out of the water.

鈥淎s we got to the beach we put her down on the sand and it was crazy, she was blue. It was super scary,鈥� Sherratt said.

鈥淚 just started CPR right away. Chris ran down the beach yelling for anybody who had a cell phone to call 911, he was rounding up, getting all the kids away from the girl, because he saw what I saw, it was not good. She didn鈥檛 look alive at all.鈥�

Nixen, Cole and Cooper said they were scared in the moment, but feel proud of themselves and their dads for what they did, with Pearson saying, 鈥淭hey knew exactly what to do.鈥�

鈥淧robably three to five minutes after the CPR she started to turn pink, started to wheeze and it just got progressively better and better and she started breathing,鈥� Sherratt said. 鈥淲e wrapped her in a blanket, put her in the recovery position and waited for the ambulance.鈥�

The little girl was taken to East Kootenay Regional Hospital before being transferred to a larger medical facility in Vancouver, where she has been doing well. Sherratt and Cooper said they鈥檝e been getting regular updates from her father.

Sherratt and Cooper, who are both first aid certified, said this experience highlighted just how very important having it really is.

鈥淚鈥檒l be the first to tell you because I鈥檝e had to do first aid my whole life, you have to keep an updated ticket,鈥� Sheratt said. 鈥淎s a trades guy you kinda just look at it as b.s. to be honest, but after that day, man, I鈥檒l be the first to tell you there鈥檚 way more people that need first aid.

鈥淕et trained, more people need to get trained for sure. It should be free, it should at least be cheap, because as you can tell it鈥檚 very important. I never thought I鈥檇 ever use it to be honest.鈥�

paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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