catlover79
05-17-2010, 08:14 PM
http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-family-rescue-txt,0,492051.story
Dave Nethers Staff Writer
3:56 PM EDT, May 17, 2010
UNIONTOWN, Ohio - Ed Antelak says he was helping his wife, Kathi, pull weeds in a front yard garden on Saturday when he felt the ground give way under his feet.
At first he tells Fox 8 News he thought it was a garden pond and he would drop only a few inches, but he says he just kept falling. "I guess I stepped over the septic, pulled (some weeds) out and it collapsed top of the septic went in and everything with it and me," Antelak told Fox 8.
Kathi says she was not far away and heard her husband's cries for help so she raced over to where he had been standing, "I heard him yell and I came over and he was saying get the ladder, its like...where are you?" Kathi said.
She tells Fox 8, Ed was struggling to hold onto the ground above the tank, his legs and torso inside the hole, but he kept slipping farther into the six foot deep tank. "I held my husband by the t-shirt for about fifteen minutes and he kept going under, into the sludge" Kathi said.
As she was trying to hold onto her husband she was also frantically trying to call 9-1-1 but lost her cell phone in the tank. Her cries were eventually heard by neighbors across the street who were setting up for a graduation party and raced over to see what was wrong.
Soon other neighbors, including Fred Hermanowski realized Ed was in trouble and joined the rescue effort.
With Ed slipping in and out of consciousness neighbors struggled to get a belt under his arms. Hermanowski brought a rope, "He's a big man, I don't know 275-300 pounds and trying to drag somebody out dead weight its a very difficult task."
Kathi says while she was holding onto her husband she prayed for God to give her the strength to hold on. Once help arrived she says she collapsed on the lawn herself, exhausted and suffering from a panic attack.
Once Ed was finally pulled from the hole, another neighbor and former nurse Ruth Katzenmeyer took over.
"Making sure he had a pulse and making sure his airway was open and he was able to breathe, and trying to get him to stay with us."
Ruth grabbed a hose and turned on a stream of cold water to wash Antelak's face, and says it was the cold from the water that revived him. "They pulled me out and were rinsing off my face with a little bit of water and she said that's not going to work," Antelak told Fox 8.
"She took the hose, turned it on full blast, ice cold water and I jumped up, which was good," he added.
Antelak was taken to Akron City Hospital where he spent Saturday night in Intensive Care. Monday he was released from the hospital suffering only a touch of pneumonia.
"There's no way to repay their kindness, because what they gave me..they saved my husband's life," Kathi said.
Neighbors who helped say they only did what anyone else would have done, not thinking about the awful conditions at the time.
Antelak understands it could have been much worse, "It's a great thing to know all of these neighbors around here would do anything for anybody."
Dave Nethers Staff Writer
3:56 PM EDT, May 17, 2010
UNIONTOWN, Ohio - Ed Antelak says he was helping his wife, Kathi, pull weeds in a front yard garden on Saturday when he felt the ground give way under his feet.
At first he tells Fox 8 News he thought it was a garden pond and he would drop only a few inches, but he says he just kept falling. "I guess I stepped over the septic, pulled (some weeds) out and it collapsed top of the septic went in and everything with it and me," Antelak told Fox 8.
Kathi says she was not far away and heard her husband's cries for help so she raced over to where he had been standing, "I heard him yell and I came over and he was saying get the ladder, its like...where are you?" Kathi said.
She tells Fox 8, Ed was struggling to hold onto the ground above the tank, his legs and torso inside the hole, but he kept slipping farther into the six foot deep tank. "I held my husband by the t-shirt for about fifteen minutes and he kept going under, into the sludge" Kathi said.
As she was trying to hold onto her husband she was also frantically trying to call 9-1-1 but lost her cell phone in the tank. Her cries were eventually heard by neighbors across the street who were setting up for a graduation party and raced over to see what was wrong.
Soon other neighbors, including Fred Hermanowski realized Ed was in trouble and joined the rescue effort.
With Ed slipping in and out of consciousness neighbors struggled to get a belt under his arms. Hermanowski brought a rope, "He's a big man, I don't know 275-300 pounds and trying to drag somebody out dead weight its a very difficult task."
Kathi says while she was holding onto her husband she prayed for God to give her the strength to hold on. Once help arrived she says she collapsed on the lawn herself, exhausted and suffering from a panic attack.
Once Ed was finally pulled from the hole, another neighbor and former nurse Ruth Katzenmeyer took over.
"Making sure he had a pulse and making sure his airway was open and he was able to breathe, and trying to get him to stay with us."
Ruth grabbed a hose and turned on a stream of cold water to wash Antelak's face, and says it was the cold from the water that revived him. "They pulled me out and were rinsing off my face with a little bit of water and she said that's not going to work," Antelak told Fox 8.
"She took the hose, turned it on full blast, ice cold water and I jumped up, which was good," he added.
Antelak was taken to Akron City Hospital where he spent Saturday night in Intensive Care. Monday he was released from the hospital suffering only a touch of pneumonia.
"There's no way to repay their kindness, because what they gave me..they saved my husband's life," Kathi said.
Neighbors who helped say they only did what anyone else would have done, not thinking about the awful conditions at the time.
Antelak understands it could have been much worse, "It's a great thing to know all of these neighbors around here would do anything for anybody."