‘He was alive,’ Witnesses describe frantic efforts to save boy pulled from Fairhaven pool

By JULI MCDONALD

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    FAIRHAVEN, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Witnesses described a frantic scene over the weekend as a 4-year-old boy was pulled from a backyard pool in Fairhaven.

“It didn’t really register at first. I really didn’t even remember until it was all over, what was actually going on,” said Erin Decrosta, a mother who was one of multiple adults at the party to perform CPR.

Relatives described it as a blur. Adults dove into the pool after the boy was found at the bottom.

It became a frantic race to revive the boy, with adults taking turns performing CPR and an off-duty firefighter jumping a fence to help.

“When you see a child, it hits different than an actual adult. We do give 110% to everybody that we help out. A child is a little different. Adrenaline rush, heart rate starts pumping, and you know what, you do what you do. That’s what you’re trained to do,” recalled that firefighter, neighbor Jesse Lacerda.

“It’s the emotion that drains you. It wasn’t tired from the CPR, it was the emotion of just seeing a child. It was quick, it was just emotional. That’s what was exhausting,” Decrosta added.

The child was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, but thanks to a true team effort, he was breathing again by the time the ambulance arrived.

“He started spitting up water and the color was coming back. He cried. That’s when we knew he was alive, oh my God,” witness Dawn Bourdeois said.

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