Among honored heroes, a boy, 12, whose dad had collapsed

TULALIP — Local heroes and Red Cross volunteers were to be honored Thursday for acts of courage, selflessness and service to community.

The 2016 Red Cross Centennial Heroes Breakfast, at the Tulalip Resort Casino, is a fundraising event to help support the American Red Cross serving Snohomish County.

“This is a special year for the Snohomish County chapter of the American Red Cross,” said Chuck Morrison, executive director of the Red Cross in the county. “In our 100th year of service to this community, we will also celebrate some of the individuals who make it great.”

Not all of this year’s honorees are from Snohomish County.

See the stories about all 10 awards

Youth CPR Rescue: Taylor Anaka

It was Feb. 7, the day before Brian Anaka’s 45th birthday. It was also moving day for the Monroe man’s family. Anaka was nearly finished hauling truckloads to the new house. He wanted to make one last run that Saturday.

“We had a huge U-Haul truck. I told my wife and two boys I was going back to the old house to grab a few things,” Anaka recalled. “Taylor said, ‘I’ll go with you.’”

The father of two told 12-year-old Taylor to relax and stay with his mom, Lisa Anaka, and younger brother Jack. But Taylor insisted on going with his dad. The boy couldn’t have known his choice likely made the difference between life and death.

“We went over to the old house. I grabbed a huge pantry cabinet in the kitchen, put it in the U-Haul, stepped to the side, and dropped dead right there,” Anaka said. “It was called a cardiac electrical storm. The heart just stops.”

At first, Taylor thought his father was kidding, just lying on the ground like he was tired. Quickly, though, the boy knew his dad was in trouble. “First I went to grab my phone to call 911. Then they told me to do CPR,” said Taylor, now a 13-year-old student at Hidden River Middle School in the Monroe district.

Taylor had the presence of mind to put his cellphone on speaker phone as he worked to save his father’s life.

His helper was Theresa Ramey, a longtime dispatcher at SNOPAC 911. In a Herald article by Rikki King in March, Ramey described how she told Taylor to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She instructed him to put his hands on his dad’s chest, push as hard as he could, and count loudly so she could hear.

She also told Taylor, “Stay strong for your dad right now. Keep it together right now. You can cry later.”

Within about five minutes of Taylor’s 911 call, help had arrived. Monroe paramedic Corey Wenzel took over CPR. And as paramedic Travis Jacobs was setting up a breathing tube, Anaka breathed.

“There is no doubt in my mind that (Taylor) doing CPR helped save his dad,” Jacobs said in March.

The crisis wasn’t over. At Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Anaka was put in a medically induced coma. When he awakened several days later, he said, “my wife was sitting there crying.”

Anaka said Lisa asked if he knew who she was. “You’re my wife,” he answered.

A finish carpenter, Anaka said his brush with death has brought to the forefront what’s important. “It really puts things in perspective. We’re a really close family,” he said.

Taylor said the experience “toughened me up, I feel I can handle things.” During his father’s hospital stay, he said, “it was either he was gone, he was going to be disabled, or he was going to be fine — and he’s all fine.”

He loves playing basketball and watching TV with his dad.

“I feel that we’re closer. He could have been gone,” Taylor said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

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