by Three teens were in the right place at the right time to help save a woman whose heart stopped beating.
Three Clark County teenagers are credited with helping to save the life of a 33-year-old woman life.
Ashley Eggleston was eating in her dining room when she suddenly collapsed. Her 13-year-old son, Owen Meyers, heard the sound of his mom hitting the floor and immediately ran to the dining room.
“I heard a loud bang. I went over there and she was on the floor,” Owen told KGW8.
Fearing for his mom’s life, he ran outside and flagged down the first car he saw, while his siblings followed.
How Three Random Teenagers Saved a Mother’s Life
Three teens — Hockinson High School juniors Emilee Tikka, 16; Eva Sarkinen, 16; and Prairie High School sophomore Kate Nylund, 15 — were driving home when Owen stopped them.
“We thought they were being kids and just running around, so we stopped and rolled down the window,” Emilee said. “They were yelling that their mom fell so we ran inside with them.”
When the girls got inside, Ashley was breathing, but by the time they got the 911 operator on the phone, she had stopped. The 911 dispatcher then helped Eva perform CPR.
“She told me how to put my hands and where to put them, and then she counted a beat, a rhythm,” Eva said.
Eva performed CPR until first responders arrived. Ashley was rushed to the hospital, where she spent six days. It turned out, she had heart palpitations, which caused her heart to skip a beat on a daily basis for eight years. It was an ailment that became normal to her. But this time, it got into an arrhythmia that was so bad, her heart wasn’t pumping blood.
Eggleston eventually met the students that saved her life and she says they will keep in touch.
Vicki Eggleston, Ashley’s mom, came to the house 10 minutes after the first responders arrived. She went upstairs and saw the kids were all together, away from the commotion, and being cared for by the helpful teens.
It was horrifying. I went upstairs to make sure the kids were OK, and I could tell the girls did an amazing job at comforting them. They were definitely scared, but those girls were doing their best to lighten the mood.
VICKI EGGLESTON TO THE COLUMBIAN
“We were meant to be there I guess,” Emilee said.
Truly, thanks to them being at the right place and the right time, caring enough to stop and being level-headed enough to save the day, a mother’s life was spared.
