Miss Golden
08-09-2005, 09:44 PM
Brother, deputy join to save drowning boy
BY KATHLEEN CULLINAN
PALMETTO -- Daniel Oris went to check on his autistic son, Ben, who'd been watching the "Little Rascals" in the family room of their North Manatee home Saturday evening.
Ben wasn't there.
Ben's 14-year-old brother, Daniel Jr., raced to search for him in a nearby murky pond, knowing that Ben, 5, always has been drawn to water. Daniel Jr. spotted Ben floating near the surface.
"I saw his nose and lips," Daniel Jr. said. "I screamed."
Just then, a sheriff's deputy on routine patrol saw Daniel Jr. and pulled over. Manatee Deputy Josh Fleischer jumped in the pond, pulled Ben out and laid him on the grass. The boy wasn't breathing, so Fleischer and an off-duty emergency official began CPR to revive him.
Ben's mother, Nancy Oris, rushed to the pond and stopped about 20 feet away, unable to get closer.
"When I saw them pull him out," she said, "my knees were weak. I knew my baby was dead."
Nancy prayed and cried and couldn't stop even when a few minutes later Ben threw up and opened his eyes. The CPR had worked.
"I still think I'm dreaming," she said Monday. "I came this close to losing my baby."
The incident happened about 6:20 p.m. Saturday near the family's home in a subdivision off 69th Street East, northeast of Palmetto.
Ben spent a couple nights at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg to get the water cleared out of his lungs.
Ben's father now figures his son walked out the garage door Saturday and had been gone only about a minute before his absence was noticed.
When Nancy walked into the hospital room Monday, she said, it was like nothing had happened. Ben pulled himself out of his crib and ran to hug her, fed himself a bowl of ramen noodles and wiped tears off his mother's cheeks.
The two boys and their sister missed the first day of school Monday; Ben got home from the hospital Monday afternoon. And Daniel Jr. -- whose quick thinking helped save Ben's life -- still was shaken up.
But their mother is sure things will be back to normal next week, when Ben turns 6 and they celebrate with dinner at his favorite place, Chuck-E-Cheese's -- twice.
BY KATHLEEN CULLINAN
PALMETTO -- Daniel Oris went to check on his autistic son, Ben, who'd been watching the "Little Rascals" in the family room of their North Manatee home Saturday evening.
Ben wasn't there.
Ben's 14-year-old brother, Daniel Jr., raced to search for him in a nearby murky pond, knowing that Ben, 5, always has been drawn to water. Daniel Jr. spotted Ben floating near the surface.
"I saw his nose and lips," Daniel Jr. said. "I screamed."
Just then, a sheriff's deputy on routine patrol saw Daniel Jr. and pulled over. Manatee Deputy Josh Fleischer jumped in the pond, pulled Ben out and laid him on the grass. The boy wasn't breathing, so Fleischer and an off-duty emergency official began CPR to revive him.
Ben's mother, Nancy Oris, rushed to the pond and stopped about 20 feet away, unable to get closer.
"When I saw them pull him out," she said, "my knees were weak. I knew my baby was dead."
Nancy prayed and cried and couldn't stop even when a few minutes later Ben threw up and opened his eyes. The CPR had worked.
"I still think I'm dreaming," she said Monday. "I came this close to losing my baby."
The incident happened about 6:20 p.m. Saturday near the family's home in a subdivision off 69th Street East, northeast of Palmetto.
Ben spent a couple nights at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg to get the water cleared out of his lungs.
Ben's father now figures his son walked out the garage door Saturday and had been gone only about a minute before his absence was noticed.
When Nancy walked into the hospital room Monday, she said, it was like nothing had happened. Ben pulled himself out of his crib and ran to hug her, fed himself a bowl of ramen noodles and wiped tears off his mother's cheeks.
The two boys and their sister missed the first day of school Monday; Ben got home from the hospital Monday afternoon. And Daniel Jr. -- whose quick thinking helped save Ben's life -- still was shaken up.
But their mother is sure things will be back to normal next week, when Ben turns 6 and they celebrate with dinner at his favorite place, Chuck-E-Cheese's -- twice.