CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the first time, Eyewitness News is hearing from a young Huntersville lifeguard who was only on the job for less than an hour when she saved a little boy's life.
Blair Timberlake told Eyewitness News she had no idea she would have to use her emergency training so soon.
Timberlake was working at the pool in the Tanners Creek subdivision Saturday afternoon when several swimmers noticed a little boy at the bottom of the pool.
"When I heard a mom scream and jump in the pool, that's when I started throwing all my belongings off me and I blew my whistle," she said.
A woman pulled out 7-year-old Tyqual Seaburn, and the 15-year-old lifeguard started CPR.
"People were screaming and crying and praying and calling family members and being hysterical," she said.
Another trained lifeguard, Mason Gainey, happened to be at the pool too. He did mouth-to-mouth on Seaburn.
Timberlake, a championship diver for Hough High School, said her diving training helped teach her to stay calm in stressful situations.
"I didn't think about what could go wrong. I was trying to focus on what could go right,” she said.
Eventually Tyqual started breathing, and he was conscious when paramedics took him to the hospital.
"It's kind of surreal to know that I'm one of the reasons that the kid is alive," Timberlake said.
Timberlake said she thought Seaburn had eaten something before jumping into the pool and then choked while underwater. The boy's family said he's still too shaken up to talk about what happened, but he is out of the hospital and is doing fine now.
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
