Most teenagers spend their summer days mastering TikTok dances or perfecting their gaming skills. Not Jackson Leonard, 17, and Isaac Hassell, 15. They spent theirs becoming certified in CPR — and then, days later, actually using it to save a life.
It was a typical afternoon at Lake Bailey in Arkansas when a mother's scream pierced the air. Her 3-year-old daughter had been pulled from the lake, face down, and was, by all accounts, in a very bad way.
Right Place, Right Time, Right Skills
Isaac, who'd literally just completed his CPR training the week before, described the scene to KARK: "Then I see her come out, and she’s blue, and she’s limp." Most of us would freeze. Isaac, however, immediately launched into chest compressions.
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Start Your News DetoxJackson quickly joined him, grabbing a breath mask. The kind of teamwork usually reserved for sports, but with slightly higher stakes.
As they worked, Jackson noticed a shift. "She was turning, like, pink and white and everything. And then her eyes started opening," he recounted to KARK. "I was like, we’re almost there. Like, we’re going to get her back up."
Isaac admitted to KATV that fear was definitely a factor. "I was like, God, just please take this girl and help her get back up." But that fear was quickly replaced by a "warm feeling" knowing they'd given someone another shot at life.
The little girl not only recovered but celebrated her fourth birthday just a week later. Jackson and Isaac, meanwhile, were honored with Heartsaver Hero Awards by the American Heart Association. Because apparently, some heroes wear swim trunks and have just learned how to do chest compressions.
