Area woman helps save young girl's life

A Mountain View County woman is being commended for her efforts in helping save the life of a young girl in Arizona on Jan. 11.

Chelsea Cunningham, who lives near Bergen with her husband Aaron and their three boys, performed CPR on two-year-old Kylie Lafferty after the youngster was pulled from a sewage septic tank just outside Maricopa, south of Phoenix.

In a Gazette interview, Cunningham, 28, said she was very happy to have done her part, which included at least three minutes of intense rescue effort.

The child fell into the tank after a cover flipped over as she stepped on it, say police.

The girl was in the tank for about four minutes before two bystanders, Harry Ricketts, 27, and Audencio Rios, 29, pulled her out.

The girl was then handed to Cunningham, who immediately began performing CPR.

"I was unable to detect a heartbeat or a pulse and there was no sign of breath or consciousness when she came out," said Cunningham. "I immediately went to work administering CPR. I had her on the ground. It was compressions and breaths and checks for heartbeats and breath.

"Her body then expelled some of the fluids, which was good because it meant the lungs were starting to work. Then we lost her heartbeat again but we were able to get it back. Then we got a bit of a cry out of her and right after that the ambulance showed up.

"We were able to work together to get her breathing again so we are all really happy about that."

Maricopa sheriff Paul Babeu commended all three rescuers, calling their efforts heroic.

"Had it not been for these three heroes the young child would have certainly died," said Badeu.

For her part, Cunningham says she’s doesn’t see herself as a hero.

"I was just part of a really cool team that was able to get the job done," she said.

For their efforts, Cunningham, Ricketts and Rios were presented with life-saving awards from the Pinal County Sheriffs Department at a ceremony on Jan. 14.

At the ceremony Cunningham had a chance to meet with Kylie’s mother and family.

"They were very appreciative of the work that we did," she said.

A singer, songwriter and musician who has played many times across Mountain View County over the years, Cunningham says she plans to write a song about the rescue of young Kylie.

"With me these things tend to come out in a song," she said. "I didn’t quite realize how hungry the world is for good news and this is a really good example of that. Obviously people were interested in hearing about a good story."

Cunningham says one thing she has taken from the incident is a renewed belief in the importance of everyone learning CPR.

"Don’t just figure there will always be someone there who knows it, because there won’t be," she said. "Go get trained and then have the courage to use it."