This is the incredible moment when a Kansas man saved his neighbor’s four-year-old autistic son from drowning by pulling him out of a pool and CPRing him for nearly three minutes.
Lawrence’s Tom Westerhaus had been training in CPR for fifteen years, but when his 12-year-old son Maddox came to seek help for little Xavier, Westerhaus’s father’s instincts took over.
The heroic father rushed to the pool area of his apartment complex and, without thinking twice, jumped a fence to get Xavier out of the water.
Surveillance footage of the May 18 incident shows Westerhaus doing CPR for two minutes and forty-one seconds on the toddler, who is autistic and non-verbal.
“When he started coughing up water … he knew it was a good sign,” Westerhaus said.
Xavier’s mother, Alexis Rigney, said she was immensely grateful that Maddox had been playing with friends in the pool area and said she could not understand what would have happened if Westerhaus had not saved her son.
‘I don’t know what I would have done if [Maddox] I wouldn’t have been in the pool and hadn’t seen it [Xavier]”He said through tears.
Since then, Westerhaus and Maddox have received the Hometown Hero Awards on behalf of the Lawrence Fire Department for their heroic actions.
During a press conference, they also met Reign and had the opportunity to see Xavier, who has fully recovered.
This is the incredible moment when Kansas’ father, Tom Westerhaus, saved his neighbor’s four-year-old autistic son from drowning by taking him out of a swimming pool and doing CPR for almost three minutes.
Lawrence’s Westerhaus had been training in CPR for fifteen years, but when his 12-year-old son Maddox came to seek help for little Xavier, Westerhaus’s father’s instincts took over.
Since then, Westerhaus and Maddox have received the Hometown Hero Awards on behalf of the Lawrence Fire Department for their heroic actions during a press conference where they met Reign and also had a chance to see Xavier.
Lawrence’s fire department shared Westerhaus’s courageous actions in the hope that it would raise awareness of how immediate actions can make the difference between life and death in emergencies.
The incident took place on May 18, after mother Alexis Reign took a quick break in the bathroom.
Reign said he later went to look for his four-month-old daughter, who was crying, but Xavier was nowhere to be found.
“So I went to his room and checked and he wasn’t there,” Reign told a news conference where Westerhaus and his son were awarded.
“I went to the living room because he plays in the living room, that’s where the TV is, and he wasn’t there but the door was open.”
Xavier was first seen by Maddox, 12, while the youngest child was lying motionless in the pool. According to authorities, he had been in the water for three minutes and twenty-two seconds.
“My friends called me for help and I said ‘oh no,’ and I ran,” Maddox said.
The incident took place on May 18, after mother Alexis Reign had taken a short break in the bathroom. Reign said he later went to look for his four-month-old daughter, who was crying, but Xavier was nowhere to be found.
Xavier was first seen by Maddox, 12, while the youngest child was lying motionless in the pool. According to authorities, he had been in the water for three minutes and twenty-two seconds
The Lawrence Fire Department shared Westerhaus’s courageous actions in hopes of raising awareness of how immediate action can make the difference between life and death in emergencies.
Tom Westerhaus (right) and his son Maddox Westerhaus (left)
What followed were moments of pure anguish, when Reign noticed that sirens and emergency vehicles were approaching the building complex.
“I didn’t see anyone, but I could see the paramedics and the fire brigade entering the back of the building, so I followed them and Xavier was being pulled out of the pool,” the creepy mother said.
“But I didn’t see him move, so I didn’t know he was okay at the time.”
Reign said anything could happen in a matter of minutes and has since learned that autistic children are especially attracted to bodies of water.
‘Many autistic children, they love the big bodies of water, the pools, the lakes and they like the ocean. I didn’t know it until I was in the hospital, they gave me a lot of information about autistic children, “he said.
According to the National Drowning Prevention League, children with autism are ten times more likely to drown.
Since then, Xavier has fully recovered, his grateful mother said.