This week marked a milestone in Ethan Edwards’ young life.
On Wednesday, the Oak Harbor 1-year-old took his first steps.
The toddler, it seems, is thoroughly amused by this walking business.
“He gets smiling, starts to giggle, then sits down,” said Dian Edwards-Andrews, his proud grandmother.
“He’s always doing something exciting, something new.”
Edwards-Andrews and her husband Richard Andrews have run out of words to express how grateful they are over their grandchild’s well-being.
Six weeks ago today, the entire family was panic-stricken after a small piece of watermelon got lodged in Ethan’s throat, leaving him nearly lifeless and unable to breath.
It happened during a celebration of Ethan’s first birthday attended by more than a dozen family members at Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor.
Yet it was an act of a complete stranger that might have saved his life — a person his grandparents are calling a guardian angel.
“This lady comes running across the park and goes, ‘I’m CPR qualified. Can I help?’” Andrews said.
Ethan’s mother, Dorothy, had already tried to clear any obstruction from her toddler’s mouth with her finger and also tried patting him on the back.
“He just wasn’t responding,” Andrews said.
The unknown woman then was allowed to take the child in her arms. She raised his arms above his head and started massaging his chest, Andrews said.
The toddler gasped, followed by a deep breath, then started to cry.
He wasn’t the only one. It was an emotional scene for his his parents and other family members. Both grandmothers and a great-grandmother attended the event.
Andrews said he was surprised by how fast emergency responders arrived.
The Oak Harbor Police Department, Oak Harbor Fire Department, North Whidbey Fire &Rescue and an ambulance from WhidbeyHealth Medical Center all were on the scene within a few minutes of the 911 call.
But by then, the toddler already was breathing but he was still assessed, according to Ray Merrill, fire chief with the Oak Harbor Fire Department.
Merrill said with children younger than a year old, back blows are often utilized to try to dislodge an object in their throat. Cradled in an arm, a child’s head should be facing down so gravity will assist.
“If that doesn’t work, do four or five small chest thrusts to get the air moving out of the lungs,” Merrill said.
For a child older than a year, he recommended the Heimlich maneuver, which involves abdominal thrusts.
The scene during and after Ethan’s ordeal was chaotic, Andrews said.
He remembers trying to locate the woman who came to Ethan’s aid after emergency responders had arrived and having no luck.
“It was like she just vanished,” he said.
The incident reaffirmed his belief in a higher power. He said he and his wife are Christians and both believe the Lord looks out for you.
“The things that have happened to us in our past and to our sons in their pasts, we really believe the Lord sent an angel there at that time to help. A couple of our sons shouldn’t be alive right now. I’ve had an accident where I shouldn’t be here. There’s no reason at all.
“We believe in karma, too — what goes around, comes around. The way you treat people is the way you will be treated. That’s how we raised our kids.”
Andrews said he believes the young woman was meant to be at the park at that time.
“How do you explain a lady that comes out of nowhere and says, ‘I’m CPR (and first aid) qualified, takes my grandson, gets him breathing until a medical unit’s there and then is just gone?” he said.
Everyone who responded so quickly needs to be commended, Edwards-Andrews said.
She and her husband consider them all guardian angels.
“The police were there so fast,” she said. “I just can’t thank them enough.
“I think society needs to know this and stand behind what they stand for.”
