Two Spanish Fork High School students are being hailed as heroes for their quick actions that saved a man’s life.

It was Saturday, August 24, and PJ Merril and Traven Elquist were waiting for their turn to run at the cross country invitational at the Sports Park in Spanish fork. Suddenly, the two were made aware of an emergency situation.

“It happened two races before my race,” 16-year-old PJ recalled. “I just finished a little five minute jog and was heading over to the team tent. I was talking to Tray, and he pointed behind me with this confused look on his face, and I looked behind me towards the tree. There was a group of Carbon High School kids all surrounding something.”

The students were surrounding the father of a teammate, 49-year-old Farris Child, who had fallen and was unconscious. 

“The group started saying, ‘Hey,someone get help,’ and so Tray and I jogged over, and as we got closer, I saw there’s this guy on the ground, and he’s pretty motionless. He’s just gasping for air,” PJ recalled. I dropped my phone and I got down and I’m standing in front of the guy and I start asking questions like, ‘Hey, so uh what happened?’ I was told that the man was just walking over and then he just dropped. I started asking if anyone knew him? No response. No one knew him.”

PJ and Traven had recently taken a CPR training class, and knew the questions to ask and signs to look for. Traven called 911, and PJ checked for a pulse. 

“He had a pulse, and I’m sitting there trying to figure out what’s going on,” PJ recalled. “He was gasping for air, and my first thought was cardiac arrest or maybe heat stroke. It wasn’t hot enough, so I was pretty sure it was cardiac arrest. So we flipped them over and I said, ‘Alright, I’m certified. I got this.’ Everyone backed up and gave me some room. I start doing my chest compressions. I did 30, and then I stopped. I take my hands off. If I had personal protection equipment, I would have administered oxygen through mouth to mouth, but I didn’t have any.”

After several chest compressions, the man stopped gasping for air, and he still wasn’t moving. Another check for a pulse, and none was found.

“I got a little nervous. It gave me a good fright,” PJ said. “I started doing chest compressions again, saying all the numbers out loud. As I hit 10 my athletic trainer, Rory and the Maple Mountain athletic trainer came to the scene and the Maple Mountain athletic trainer jumped out and she said, ‘All right, switch!’ By then I hit 15 and they took my hands off. He gasped for air, so I’m pretty sure I got a pulse back.”

The adrenaline helped PJ get this far, but the reality of the situation started to settle in as he walked away. With his back turned, he hoped he had done enough, but he said he was too afraid to look. 

“I started walking over and this wave of emotion, anxiety and nervousness just hit me all of a sudden, and I just could not look at the guy,” PJ said. “I didn’t want to see, even though curiosity was killing me. I wanted to see if he was OK,  but if he died, I didn’t want that  image burned in my memory and haunting me.”

Child didn’t die. The quick actions of Traven brought emergency crews within minutes, and PJ was able to keep him alive until they arrived. PJ spoke highly of his friend for the part he played in saving Child’s life. 

“Tray was the one who called 911,” PJ said. “Everyone was saying, ‘Call 911, and we were both looking around and no one was doing it. I was about to turn to Tray and tell him to call 911, and he was already doing it. That’s when I was able to  assess the situation, trying to figure out what’s going on.”

‘You saved Joey’s Dad!’

PJ said he didn’t know who the man was he saved, and when he found out that it was the dad of one of his teammates, it hit him pretty hard. 

“I didn’t know him, and so when they told me, ‘Dude, you saved uh Joey’s dad,’ I was like, what? I’m good friends with Joey. I knew him from track. He’s a good guy. He’s really funny, and he graduated this year and he was at the race. And so when our athletic trainer was asking if anyone knew him, Joey came over and was trying to hold it together, and said, ‘That’s my dad.’ That’s when my heart sank. Joey’s little brother Seth, he’s a sophomore. He was there too.”

Cross Country coach Darin Cable witnessed much of the incident, and hailed both as heroes, adding that Traven and PJ are both really good kids. 

“They’re both very fun loving,” Cable said. “They’re good friends themselves and so I’m not surprised that they were first on the scene to step up and help.”

Both took the CPR certification class last year, which is a college credit class reserved for mostly upperclassmen. PJ recalled the class being extremely difficult for both he and Traven. After the incident, however, PJ said that he’s rethinking his path in life, and he may very well go into the medical field. 

“It felt like I was on autopilot, and then when I started doing chest impressions, it just turned into muscle memory,” PJ said. “Looking back, it felt kind of weird. It almost felt natural to me. … After that, I’m really debating if I should go into the medical field. I want to help save more lives, or at least increase the odds of their survival.”

Due to their quick action that saved another person’s life the two were presented with a challenge coin that is reserved for firefighters and not public civilians like them.

On behalf of the community, Serve Daily thanks PJ, Traven and all who assisted in the life saving efforts.