Countywide : 4 Men Honored for Saving Girl’s Life

The L.A. Rams were just about to begin practice at a UC Irvine sports field one day last August when a ball boy told team trainers Blynn De Niro and Jim Anderson that a teen-ager at a nearby tennis camp had collapsed.

“Something in his voice said that this was not just a kid with a scrape on his knee,” said De Niro, who along with Anderson jumped a fence and ran over to discover the motionless body of 13-year-old Kelly Knutson, whose heart had stoped beating.

The pair immediately performed CPR on the Huntington Beach girl, providing her body with oxygen until paramedics arrived five minutes later.

“Those five minutes seemed more like a half-hour,” said Ty Cobb, director of cardiology at St. Joseph Hospital, which on Tuesday held an awards lunch for De Niro, Anderson and the two paramedics who helped save Kelly’s life.

The four were presented with assorted plaques and commendations amid the flash of cameras and frequent applause. A grateful Kelly and her family also attended the lunch.

“Fortunately, we were at the right place at the right time . . . it was one of those timing things,” De Niro said. “If it had happened the next day, things could have been different.”

Doctors said De Niro and Anderson’s CPR sent just enough oxygen to Kelly’s brain to prevent permanent damage. County Fire Department paramedics Todd Boorman and Chip Tardif provided more sophisticated care and eventually transported her to St. Joseph’s.

At the hospital, doctors discovered that Kelly suffered from a heart problem that caused her heart to beat in an abnormal rhythm.

The diagnosis was especially jarring to Kelly’s parents because she was a gifted athlete who practiced her tennis game almost every day and played on a competitive level.

“When something like this happens to a perfectly healthy child, it’s a shock,” said Kathy Knutson, Kelly’s mother.

Kelly is playing tennis again, just not competitively.

On Tuesday, she reiterated the appreciation she first expressed to De Niro and Anderson at a meeting last year: “Thank you for saving my life.”

But for De Niro and the others, just seeing Kelly smiling and excited is enough thanks for them.

“This was a rewarding experience,” De Niro said. “It gives her a chance to live a full life.”