A teenage lifeguard has given God all the credit after saving the life of a toddler who was just seconds from drowning.
Michael Wood, 16 was the lifeguard on duty at the Westwood Club swimming pool in Henrico, Virginia, when he saw a commotion going on in the water.
Initially, Wood thought that the struggling child was simply having a bit of fun. “I thought he was actually playing and holding his breath underwater,” the expert swimmer told ABC 8. But when the boy failed to surface, Wood knew it was time to act.
“Something was wrong,” he said. “I knew what I had to do — I jumped in, grabbed the kid out, and, sure enough, he was completely passed out and he was not breathing.”
The boy was lifeless and a “pale blue-grey” color, according to Wood. Immediately, he began administering CPR. After getting oxygen into his lungs, the boy’s face gradually returned to a more healthy shade.
“His cheeks turned bright red, and the color returned to his face,” Wood explained to CBS 6. “And I was like, Praise God for that!’ It was scary, but once he started crying I just sat back and cried too, because I knew that he was fine.”
Wood added that the “whole thing could have gone south” but that the “quick actions from everyone made this kid be able to take another breath and walk on this earth again.”
Once the boy had been returned to his family, healthy and well, Wood said that the father sprinted over and gave him a massive hug.
The lifeguard has become something of a local hero in recent month. Last year, he managed to pull an eight-year-old kid out of the deep end after spotting that he was in grave trouble.
Henrico County Sheriff, Mike Wade, who also happens to be Woods’ grandfather, said he “couldn’t wish for a better grandson.”
“Of course, he is my favorite grandson… my only grandson,” he laughed.