For event organizer and extreme sports enthusiast Joseph Falcone, a chance to save a life – especially that of a child – is something he will not pass up.

So when that chance to step up to the plate came on Sunday, Falcone, 32, mustered all the knowledge he had from his CPR training to try and save the life of a boy.

“Masaya para sa akin na magawa ko yung ganon. Lalo na kasi nga may anak din ako (It’s really a joy for me to be able to do something like that. Especially because I also have a child),”  said the 32-year-old Falcone in a phone interview with MB Online.

Despite his “heroic deed” as seen in the video posted on Manila Bulletin’s Facebook page, he still feels a bit guilty for supposed mistakes he made while administering CPR on the boy.

He narrated that at around 12 noon, the boy in the video was brought to their cottage apparently after drowning while swimming at the Lawis Point beach.

Falcone, a downhill skateboarder, said it must have been fate because after all he knew something about CPR after having undergone training from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation.

“Siguro talagang fate yon na sa lahat ng tao don, sa lahat ng cottage don, sa amin pa talaga.. sa cottage ko pala talaga s’ya dinala. (It must really have been fate, of all the people there, of all the cottages, the boy was brought specifically to our cottage),” he said.

And true enough, as soon as he saw the boy, Falcone, despite still in a bit of panic, still managed to gather his wits and do what was necessary in that very crucial moment.

He said that as soon as he saw the boy’s skin turn black and the feet curl up, he already knew there was not a moment to lose.

He explained that from their training he learned that the symptoms he had described were already signs of a person who is in danger of losing his/her life.

To ensure that does not happen, Falcone immediately conducted CPR, even though in hindsight he said he even made a mistake with the counting.

He said that someone administering CPR was supposed to pump 30 times then blow on the nose of the person.

In panic, he supposedly made the wrong counting sequence but luckily, despite the mistake, after pumping for a few minutes, the boy’s mouth eventually spewed out food, allowing the latter to breathe easier.

Falcone said one of his instructors called him up after seeing the video and congratulated him for doing a good job.

After administering CPR for around five minutes, Falcone was able to turn the boy over to the paramedic, who then brought him to a provincial hospital.

Falcone gladly divulged that the boy is now in good condition and recovering at an undisclosed provincial hospital.

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