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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Teen Saves Elderly Man's Life At Bowling Alley

Updated: Tuesday, 13 Dec 2011, 5:45 AM EST
Published : Monday, 12 Dec 2011, 10:23 PM EST


MYFOXNY.COM -

A quick-thinking New Jersey teenager saved an elderly man's life when he collapsed at a bowing alley

Christa Fairclough was bowing with her family at Rockaway Lanes in Rockaway last Friday when she saw him go down in the lane next to her.

She rushed over and gave the man CPR.

"He wasn't breathing. His face was purple," Fairclough said. "I was like, 'this man needs help'. I gave him two breaths, 30 compressions."

The man started breathing and survived.

"If it had been a few more minutes, the patient might not have made it," Rockaway Police Sgt. Michael Gosden said.

The high school junior had just learned CPR in school.

"Just three days ago we started adult/child CPR," Fairclough's health teacher Richter Grillo said. "We do the physical testing and the written exam."

As for Fairclough, she says, "It just kind of came to me in the moment."

Police say the elderly man, whose name has not been released, is still in the hospital in a critical care unit.

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