TAYLOR, Mich. – When a Taylor High School student had a seizure in the middle of class, it was another student who stepped up and saved his life.
It was an intense moment for teachers and students. Now that student, 10th grader Caiden Lutton, is feeling better and back at school.
“I can’t remember five minutes before it,” Lutton says.
What he does remember is going to his fifth-hour, study hall. He then remembers waking up in the hospital.
“They just said I had a seizure and that they had people helping me,” Lutton says.
People like 12th grader Austen Parrish. Parrish is part of the fire, EMS, and public safety program at Taylor Career and Technical Center.
Parrish was in the hallway of Taylor High School when he saw other students panicking, running out of class to get security. He went into the class and took action.
“So I place him on his left side, to make it easier for him to spit out at everything,” explains Parrish.
A few minutes later, paramedics arrived.
Those first few minutes of a seizure are critical. Caiden can’t help but be grateful.
“I mean I could’ve died so yea. From what I know it was violent, he saved my life,” says Lutton. “It’s nice to know that someone is capable of doing it in the school so that way it doesn’t take five minutes for them to get here.”
It’s emotional for Parrish. He says he will remember the moment for the rest of his life, especially after this week someone he knew passed away after a seizure.
“He was a family friend and it just sucks but I felt like if I was there I would have been able to help him,” says Parrish.
That’s why seeing Lutton back in school was priceless. “I’m not gonna lie, when he walked in I almost cried,” Parrish says.
Jeff Morrow, the retired firefighter who teaches Parrish’s EMS program says he’s not surprised to hear what his student did and hopes it’s an eye-opener for others.
“When people see this story, they’re gonna say, ‘Wow, you know, I could do that too,’” says Morrow.