Thu Feb 09 2012
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Macedonia -- Bridgette Hildreth remembers little of the what happened May 28, including why she kept her 10-year-old son Aundre home from school, but is now glad she did because he saved her life.
"I'm very proud of Aundre. I'm very thankful for Aundre," she said.
It was at about 11:30 a.m. that Aundre discovered his mother lying on her bed barely conscious after she suffered what was later determined to have been some kind of seizure. Aundre then called 911 and Mary Pruitt, Aundre's grandmother, said that doctors who treated her daughter told the family that if Aundre had not been there and responded the way he did, Hildreth would likely have died.
"[Aundre] said later, 'I'm too young. I didn't know what to do,'" said Pruitt. "I said, 'you did what you were supposed to do.'"
When Mayor Don Kuchta heard about what happened, he sent Aundre a letter of commendation.
"By all accounts, you, Aundre, literally saved your mother's life with maturity and presence of mind," wrote Kuchta in the July 27 letter. "I extend to you this letter of commendation for your forthright efforts and extreme calmness in this situation."
Hildreth and Aundre live with Pruitt and her husband Greg, a retired football player who played for the Cleveland Browns, in their Villa Lago Drive home. She said her daughter had not been feeling well that morning so before leaving for a substitute teaching assignment in Aundre's class at Ledgeview Elementary School, she asked Aundre to check on his mother.
Aundre said he went to his mother's room soon after that and realized something was wrong.
"She was just staring at the T.V.," he said, adding that she made some kind of noise, apparently trying to talk, and raised her hand as if she was attempting to point at the television set.
He said he ran downstairs to call 911.
"I was scared. I had never heard of a seizure before," he said.
Aundre stayed on the phone with the dispatcher until city police and emergency medical service personnel arrived a few minutes later. Aundre then called his grandmother, who never made it to the classroom.
"By the time I got to Ledgeview, he was calling me," she said.
Hildreth was taken by ambulance to Sagamore Hills Medical Center and from there flown by helicopter to University Hospital in Cleveland.
Aundre and Pruitt said the family stayed at the hospital the three days Hildreth was there.
"We left together and we came home together," said Pruitt.
Hildreth said she was often sleeping during her hospital stay, but it did not take long for her to recover.
"About a week after I came home, I was feeling like myself," she said.
Hildreth said her family does not have a history of serious medical issues and while she is still under the care of a neurologist, the cause of the seizure is still a mystery.
"Hopefully it won't happen again," she said.
Bishop T. D. Franklin, pastor at Vineyard Center Ministries in Cleveland, the family's church, said he believes that it is important for people to know about what Aundre did, especially since the focus is often on when children do something wrong.
"It really is important that we recognize children when they do something like this," said Franklin. "We need to give them a pat on the back."
Aundre said he believes his mother kept him home that day because he was especially tired when he woke up. Pruitt said she is uncertain of this, only remembering that she was upset about it. But now she says that she too is glad he was there and that she has a simple explanation for why things happened the way they did.
"I just say it was God," she said.
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite.
Inappropriate posts may be removed.
The-News-Leader.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Login above or Register to comment.
0 Total Comments Home | Back
Copyright Record Publishing Co, LLC. 1995-2010. All Rights Reserved.
Content may not be republished without the expressed written consent of the publisher.
Content may not be republished without the expressed written consent of the publisher.
Dix Communications