TONGANOXIE, Kan. — A four-year-old girl from Leavenworth nearly drowns in a pool in Tonganoxie, but luckily Spencer Rogers, a Shawnee firefighter, happened to be there and gave her CPR just in the nick of time.
“All of a sudden I heard this lady let out a big scream,” said Rogers, who was off-duty at the Tonganoxie water park yesterday afternoon with his kids.
He says he saw a woman pulling out a young girl who was floating face down and unresponsive in the pool.
“She had jumped in the pool, grabbed her daughter, and once she picked her up, and I saw that she had her in her arms, I knew that things weren`t good,” said Rogers. “I was at the edge of the pool when she got her daughter to the edge and she handed her to me. I checked her for a pulse, she didn`t have a pulse and she wasn’t breathing.”
Rogers started CPR. A nurse was there too, so she gave breaths while he did chest compressions.
“She immediately got a little bit of color back, she still wasn`t breathing, and then she took one or two good breaths,” Rogers said.
Four-year-old Zoie Wacker coughed up water, and got a pulse back. The fire department and EMS showed up within minutes.
The Wackers declined to go on camera but, Zoie’s mom Ashley provided FOX 4 the following statement:
“My husband, family, friends and myself would like to thank everyone for their support and their prayers. Yesterday was without a doubt a miracle from God. It is not a coincidence that there was a nurse and firefighter off duty, poolside to step in and save Zoie’s life. If they hadn’t come to her rescue this story would have a different ending. Zoie is doing well, better than expected she would be. We just ask for continued prayers.”
The police report says Ashley Wacker took her other child to the slide while family members watched Zoie. Rogers says she was frantic and he tried to calm her down.
“Yesterday was that mom`s worst day, and that child`s worst day,” said Rogers. “Every day that we`re here, that`s what happens, we go on the worst day of everybody`s life, and we try to make it better for them.”
Zoie remains at a local hospital, but family members say she’s doing well.
According to the City Administrator for the City of Tonganoxie, lifeguards blew their whistles according to protocol.