Lethbridge Fire and Emergency services hosts reunion with near-drowning survivor

After almost drowning in July, a nine-year-old boy has been reunited with those who saved his life, including his 10-year-old friend.

When Carter Lam joined Benjamin Nunez at the Cor Van Raay YMCA in Lethbridge, Alta., on Monday evening, neither boy expected a dramatic, life-threatening experience.

“He challenged himself to cross the pool in one breath,” said Nunez, while talking about Lam. “He (was) starting to swim, then I saw some bubbles come up and then I started to go to the other side, wondering what happened. I saw him at the end there, he was there laying. For a second, I thought he was joking.”

Lam, however, was not pranking his friend. The attempted swim across the pool proved too much and Lam was under water, silently drowning.

At the time, nobody was aware, except for Nunez. He immediately sprang into action, becoming a hero.

“I jumped in. I tried to tell somebody to help, then they blew a whistle and they started to do CPR and all that,” said Nunez.

After he entered the pool, Nunez dove to rescue Lam. By the time the two boys had resurfaced, lifeguards were on scene and able to assist.

“When you’re working at a pool, you’re only as strong as your team,” said Michaela McFarlane, a lifeguard who was on scene at the time. “At the YMCA here in Lethbridge, we have a very strong team and we all support each other and work really well, especially when the situations are emergent.”

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By a lucky coincidence, a man sitting in the hot tub nearby was a doctor – Ryan Derman. He was, however, not the only bystander who was qualified to help. Nicholas Spencer is a primary care paramedic and firefighter with Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services. He was in the YMCA gym when he saw what was happening.

Both Derman and Spencer assisted lifeguards in life-saving measures to ensure Lam had the best chance of surviving the ordeal. Thankfully, due in no small part to the heroes who stepped up, Lam survived.

While he was certainly the primary concern in this situation, first responders also deal with significant mental health stress from instances that do not turn out as successfully. For Spencer, this was a much-needed victory.

“Having this come at the time it did and having such a great outcome from it, because I haven’t had a really successful outcome from a drowning, was definitely something that was needed for me at that time,” Spencer said.

“It was nice to be a part of it and have everybody there work so well together.”

Lam’s mother, Candice, is thankful to all those who came together to save her son.

“Just to hear about the incredible skill level that was there to help save Carter’s life and that they all just jumped into action and the fact that he’s just OK.”

She says she was not present at the time, as her son had gone to the pool with Nunez’s family. Noting her son was a strong swimmer, she says there was no fear, until she received a phone call while chopping vegetables and preparing dinner.

“Myself, my husband and my oldest son jumped in the car, and we live about three minutes from the pool, so we beat the ambulance there.”

She says her son was conscious and sitting up when they arrived, and Spencer was able to explain the entire situation to her.

Along with Nunez, Spencer, Derman and McFarlane, Reese Walper and Drew Armener were on scene to assist in the life-saving efforts that kept Lam alive.

The situation has also not daunted Lam, who returned to swimming just weeks after his near-drowning incident.

On Friday, Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services hosted a ceremony to reunite Lam with his saviours. During the ceremony, Lam presented challenge coins and letters to those who helped him.

Following the ceremony, Lam signed and hung a plaque explaining his situation inside of Fire Station #1.

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