Grateful mom to firefighter who revived girl: ‘She would have died’
The fishing had been lousy.Off-duty Addison firefighter/paramedic Joel Arnier and his buddy were trying for walleye on the Fox River Tuesday, but were only catching catfish.
Then they saw a frantic mother on the river bank, holding a limp toddler who had turned blue. The little girl had wandered to the river’s edge and fallen in.
Now she wasn’t breathing.
“All I wanted to do,” Arnier, 53, said, “was get there and do what I could to help her. . . . I just made sure I did something.”
They beached the boat, Arnier identified himself as a paramadic and asked the mother if he could take over. Trisha Schuler quickly handed over little Kaitlyn Winoker, 20 months.
“Mouth-to-mouth was the first thing that I did. . . . With a small baby like that you just cover the nose . . .and blow into the mouth.”
He also put gentle pressure on the girl’s chest — and held her upside down — to get the river water out of her lungs.
Suddenly, a burst of water came out. Arnier continued mouth-to-mouth for several minutes before the girl let out a forceful cough, sprang back to life and began breathing on her own.
“Happiness” is how Arnier described the feeling that washed over him. He’d revived people before — but never while off-duty and never a small child. Past attempts on young children had failed. They had been too far gone.
After the grateful mother hugged him, Arnier urged her to be with her daughter, who was taken to Centegra Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry and then to Rockford Memorial Hospital.
“If it wasn’t for him, she would have died,” Kaitlyn’s mother said Wednesday evening, adding the little girl is now “doing fine.”
Following the rescue, the McHenry County sheriff’s office called the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which sent investigators to the home.
Schuler, 39, said she had been with her children Tuesday in the home, which backs up to the Fox River in the 2100 block of Colby Drive, an unincorporated area of McHenry County.
She said she went upstairs briefly at about 1 p.m. and when she returned, three of her eight children were missing — her 3-year-old and twin 20-month-olds, Kaitlyn and Kyle.
She found two of the kids near the river — and Kaitlyn facedown in the water.
“I saw her floating,” she said.
Schuler went into the water and retrieved the girl. She yelled to a neighbor to call 911 — and then saw Arnier in his boat.
Arnier, who has a 20-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son, hadn’t planned to be on the river so late. He and his friend were planning to leave about noon but “decided to get a little more time in.”
“Three catfish. Not a good day at all,” the Crystal Lake resident said. “But it turned out to be good.”
The extra time in the boat put them on a course to see the frantic Schuler.
“The stars were aligned with this one,” he said. “It will never get old. It’s far and few between for resuscitation attempts.”
Arnier made the rounds doing interviews Wednesday and getting razzed by his colleagues at the firehouse. They roared when he appeared on the TV news.
But he used the opportunity to urge people to be more alert around water — and to learn cardio pulmonary resuscitation “because kids can get out of your sight quickly, and there won’t always be an off-duty paramedic there.”
Arnier, who has been with the Addison Fire Department since 1991, said, “I’m just glad I was able to be there for the little girl.
“It’s always nice to help kids,” he said. “They have so much life ahead of them.”
Schuler said DCFS told her she needs to make repairs to her home, including installing more locks. She said the state wants her kids out of the house until then.
For Schuler, she wants to see Arnier again.
“I want to tell him I’m thankful and grateful,” she said.