No Holiday for Nurse Whose CPR Revives Boy

A registered nurse’s quick action at a Santa Ana apartment building this holiday weekend saved the life of an 11-year-old Santa Ana boy, who nearly drowned in the complex’s swimming pool.

Anne Hilton and an unidentified woman administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation Friday for almost five minutes before 11-year-old Khai Hoang, who had been pulled from a swimming pool without a pulse, regained his heartbeat.

On Saturday, the Hoang family thanked Hilton for the life of their son, who was resting comfortably in intensive care at Children’s Hospital of Orange County and was expected to make a full recovery.

“We thanked her so much,” said Hien Hoang, 21, the boy’s sister. “If she wasn’t there, he would be dead.”

On a visit to her daughter’s apartment complex, Hilton was reading a mystery novel in the shallow end of the pool about 2 p.m. Friday. Suddenly, she heard a cry for help at the deep end.

“I looked over and saw Khai,” recounted Hilton, a counselor at Orangewood Children’s Home. “He was blue and his stomach was bloated.”

“I asked if anyone knew CPR,” continued Hilton. “Someone said, ‘I do.’ And then I said, ‘Let’s go.’ ”

The two women immediately began CPR, but after a couple minutes Khai still had no pulse.

“I really thought we were going to lose him,” said Hilton. “I really don’t know what I would have done if we would have lost him.”

But after about two more minutes of CPR, the pair finally managed to restore Khai’s heartbeat. A few minutes later, paramedics arrived and rushed the boy to the emergency room.

CHOC doctors said that another minute without blood or oxygen to Khai’s brain would have caused him permanent brain damage.

“There’s no question--and it can’t be overemphasized enough--that [Hilton] saved his life,” said Dr. Jim Cappon, a pediatrician at CHOC’s intensive care unit. “In fact, she not only saved his life, but also the quality of his life.”

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Apparently, Khai usually is not allowed to swim but begged his mother to let him cool off in the nearby pool because of the heat. Finally, his mother relented. Even though he couldn’t swim, the boy was splashing around the far end of the 9-foot deep pool and was using a snorkel, officials said.

“When we heard what had happened, everyone in my family cried,” said Hien, whose family came to America from Vietnam six years ago. “We are so glad he’s alive.”

Hilton has posted signs around the complex pool asking the other good Samaritan to come forward.

“This was a team effort,” said Hilton, a Santa Ana resident. “I couldn’t have done it alone.”