Cable Technicians Rescue Boy From Bottom Of Pool

DES MOINES - Todd Hickam and Ryan Thornhill only planned to repair a cable internet problem at the Highland Village Townhomes in Des Moines on Monday. Instead they saved the life of a 10-year-old boy.

As they drove by the swimming pool at the middle of the complex Hickam saw a woman waving and calling for help.

"And I go what's wrong and she goes the bottom of the pool. And I said the bottom of the pool? So I ran over there and there's a child at the bottom of the pool eight feet deep," said Hickam.

Ryan Thornhill was in another Comcast Cable truck. He stopped next and immediately called 911.

"It was scary but you just jumped right into it you knew exactly what to do," he said.

"I went down to the bottom of the pool and I grabbed him and I pulled him up," said Hickam who jumped into the pool in full uniform including his boots and a safety harness. "And Ryan came over and helped me pull him out of the pool."

Then these two guys who install cable TV and internet for a living displayed the other technical skills they had learned in a class at Comcast Cable less than one year ago.

The company, for a variety of reasons including giving workers the ability to save each other, requires CPR classes every two years.

"We turned him over on his side. He wasn't breathing. He was unconscious," said Hickam.

Had either of them ever done CPR on a real person before I asked them? "Never," said Thornhill. "Just on a dummy. Never. It was intense."

And it was intense twice. The boy stopped breathing a second time so Thornhill gave him several more breaths.

"I rolled him back over and started breathing again and he came around to where he was breathing," he said.

"Just went and did it," said Hickam. "You can't hesitate when you see a child at the bottom of a pool."

The 10-year-old boy was alive and by the time paramedics arrived the men say the boy responded when medics asked him to open his eyes.

"Emotionally when it was over I was torn up," said Hickam. "I still feel it right now and just wanted to cry for the kid. And I just hope he's OK."

Late Monday night the boy was in critical condition at Children's Hospital in Seattle. But medics who responded to the accident say the boy's survival to this point depended these two men from Comcast Cable.

"It was a good day," said Thornhill. "A great day. It was a really great day."