AHA News: He Went From Troubleshooting a CPR Training App to Using CPR to Save His 2-Year-Old Son

THURSDAY, June 2, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- Buckled into the driver's seat, on his way to a Dallas hospital, Tyler Morgan put his phone's video camera into selfie mode and hit record.

Peeking his reddened eyes toward the lens, he started talking.

"So, my, my son almost … just … drowned. Or he did drown. He almost just died."

The Morgans were at a social gathering when 2-year-old Beckham saw a foam noodle floating in an Olympic-sized pool. Because of lightning, the pool was off-limits. But Beckham has always been both fearless and attracted to water. So, with no one looking, this boy whose swimming training ended when he was 5 months old because of the COVID-19 pandemic, went in after that noodle.

He walked down a couple of steps and reached out for it. Instead, his little hands pushed it away. Beckham chased after the noodle again, only this time in water deeper than he could handle.

A teenager was the first to notice Beckham floating face down. She jumped in, pulled him out and placed him on his back alongside the edge of the pool. His body was lifeless. His face was purple. She and two teen boys started screaming.

From about 30 feet away, Tyler heard the commotion off to his right. He turned toward it. Because of tables and people in the way, all he could see were a pair of tiny legs wearing black swimming trunks with a thin green-yellow stripe down the side and black sandals.

Recognizing those trunks and sandals, Tyler raced over.

"Nobody knew what to do," he said into the camera, slightly shaking his head and shrugging.

With a bigger head shake and a shrug, he added: "Kind of myself included."

Yet when Tyler reached Beckham, he knew exactly what to do.

Tyler pointed at someone and told them to call 911, then he started pushing hard and fast in the center of his son's chest. After a series of compressions, Tyler paused to check if Beckham was breathing. He wasn't. So Tyler began giving rescue breaths between compressions.

Rescue breaths are especially vital when giving CPR to children whose hearts have stopped because the root cause is usually respiratory. Tyler continued alternating breaths and compressions for about 20 seconds. Then Beckham coughed.

Although he was breathing again, Beckham remained unresponsive. So Tyler used a single knuckle to rub the boy's sternum. With that jolt, Beckham began crying loudly and breathing deeply.

By the time an ambulance arrived, Beckham was wrapped tight in the arms of his mom, Jessica Morgan. Once paramedics took over caring for the boy, a woman grabbed Tyler and said: "You did it, Papa! I'm a nurse and I saw the whole thing. I couldn't have done it any better."

Of all the pieces that snapped into place to save Beckham's life, the most remarkable is how and why Tyler knew what to do.

Tyler is vice president of engineering for Trivie, a company that went from making the best-selling game in an app store to working with companies on their own training programs. Trivie applies its neuroscience-based trivia contests to those programs so critical information will be remembered longer. For the last few years, Trivie has worked with the American Heart Association to develop a Knowledge Booster app that – as the name implies – offers training reinforcement for CPR and other lifesaving skills. It launched in January.

Following a major update of the app in March, Tyler scoured the app to make sure everything looked good and was performing well. On Saturday, April 9, he spent so much time working on it that he promised his family he'd take off Sunday, in part to join them at this pool party.

As part of his evaluation, Tyler went through every screen many times. This included reviewing each question even more often. His sole focus was making the app work perfectly. At least, he thought that was his sole focus.

"Because of just the cursory knowledge that I've gained from using that app – in testing, even – I knew enough to … to … save his life," Tyler said in the video, his voice cracking on those last few words. Then he sniffed, winced, looked back at the road and put his hand over his mouth as he tried to regain his composure.

Each year, more than 350,000 people in the U.S. go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. About 90% die.

The odds are terrible in part because of how seldom those people receive bystander CPR: only about 40%. When CPR is performed immediately, survival is up to three times more likely.

Statistics, however, can only go so far in convincing people to learn CPR. Far more persuasive is a story of how things can play out. This story is even more gripping because of the video that lets everyone see and hear the emotions of this dad-lifesaver in the moments after reviving his son and before learning his prognosis.

On his way to the hospital, Tyler called his CEO, Lawrence Schwartz.

He was compelled to do so because Schwartz – a stroke survivor who credits the AHA for helping with his recovery – sparked the series of events that resulted in Tyler using CPR to save his son.

"Take a video of what you did and how you did it," Schwartz told Tyler. "This could help save another life."

Soon after finishing the video, Tyler arrived at the hospital. In the emergency room, he found Beckham sitting up in bed, smiling wide and wearing a superhero mask and red cape.

Right away, Tyler knew Beckham was still Beckham, still the precocious kid he'd always been.

Beckham spent that night in the hospital merely for observation. The next day, his pediatrician gave him a clean bill of health.

The emotional core of this story is the dual roles played by Tyler.

He's a father who almost lost his only biological son. And he's a 37-year-old man who brought a 2-year-old boy back to life.

Maybe he should be the one wearing a superhero mask and red cape.

"The only thing I need is to know that he's OK," Tyler said. "That's the reward. That's the prize. My son still exists, and the rest of our lives is not ruined.

"This thread of the multiverse is the one where I get to continue living with my son."

American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all views expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

By Jaime Aron, American Heart Association News