Twice a hero

Bryce Alderton

Two lives in one afternoon -- not a bad days work for Huntington Beach

Fire Department Captain Don Spreeman.

Spreeman had just returned to the Magnolia Street fire station after

saving a 62-year-old man complaining of chest pains when the call came

in. Two-year-old Ryan Cope was drowning in his grandparents’ backyard

pool.

Spreeman jumped back in the fire truck and raced to the scene,

arriving just two minutes after receiving the 911 call from the boy’s

mother, Marti Cope.

With Spreeman’s help paramedics had saved the 62-year-old man. He

hoped they could do the same for Ryan.

Spreeman rushed to the backyard where Ryan’s father and uncle were

performing CPR on him. Spreeman took over.

“[Ryan] had no pulse, he was flaccid, pale and cold looking, but his

eyes were open,” Spreeman said. “He had pinpoint pupils, which meant that

he had a good chance of being resuscitated.”

Spreeman performed CPR for a minute before engineer Leon Shean and

paramedics Scott Hess and John Sandidge arrived with oxygen bags.

Ryan had the bag covering his mouth for two to three minutes when

Spreeman checked for a pulse again.

“He had a pulse and was breathing, but he wasn’t responsive on the

scene so we continued to bag him,” Spreeman said.

The firefighter felt confident about Ryan’s chances for survival once

he regained a pulse.

“With pupils being the way they were and having a heartbeat, the

chances were real good,” Spreeman said.

He was raced to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.

Doctors at the emergency room were able to get Ryan Cope stabilized,

and about an hour later Ryan was transferred to Children’s Hospital of

Orange County.

Things were still touch and go, but now Marti Cope heard another noise

that gave her hope.

“Right before [Ryan was intubated] he cried out, and that was the

biggest sign he was responding, doing something, not just breathing,” she

said. “But whether or not he would be my Ryan, whether or not he would

wake up and know who I was, or be able to walk or talk like he did, also

went through my mind.”

Ryan’s father was amazed with how quickly Ryan was back in perfect

condition. He was released from the hospital that Friday.

Two saves back-to-back for the fire department.

“It was pretty remarkable,” Spreeman said. “It doesn’t happen a lot.”

Spreeman credits Ryan’s father, Rob Cope, for initially performing CPR

on Ryan.

Marti Cope agreed.

“My husband is my hero,” she said. “If Rob, or anybody there didn’t

know CPR, another two minutes Ryan wouldn’t have made it. I am grateful

to everyone who was there.”

Two things the Copes said people should take from their story is the

importance of knowing CPR and staying calm in a crisis.

Rob Cope now checks on Ryan every morning before leaving for work. The

Cope’s plan on enrolling Ryan in swimming lessons that deal almost

exclusively with teaching children to turn over and float.