FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - First responders bestowed a special honor to a 12-year-old boy whom they credited for saving his grandmother’s life after she suffered a serious knife injury in her Fort Lauderdale home.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials presented Parker Smith with a certificate of heroism at his home, Tuesday afternoon.
His grandmother, Betsy Banister, said she accidentally cut herself while using a small kitchen knife this past June.
“It was like a volcano. There was blood everywhere,” she said.
Paramedics said she would have probably bled to death had it not been for her quick-thinking grandson.
“I was trying to stay calm and just tell her that everything was going to be fine,” he said.
Banister said she was using the knife to cut Saran Wrap, but she missed the plastic and gashed her wrist.
“I took a paring knife, and I jabbed it, and when I did, it went forward and it hit my wrist, and the blood just spurted up into the air,” she said.
The cut severed Banister’s artery. Thankfully, her grandson was home at the time.
“There was blood all over the sink, all over the ground, all over me and Nana and just everywhere,” said Smith.
The 12-year-old said he did everything he could to help stop the bleeding.
“I went over for extra support, and I put my hand on top of it and put extra pressure,” he said.
Paramedics responded to the home within minutes. They said Banister had lost so much blood that she was feeling dizzy.
Banister said her last memory was passing out.
“They were carrying me out of the house on the stretcher, and I heard Parker behind me saying, ‘Nana, Nana. It’s going to be OK. It’s going to be OK,'” she said.
Paramedics said if Smith hadn’t been there that day, his grandmother might not have survived.
“It would have been a different outcome,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Darryl Gustason.
When asked whether he considers Smith a hero, Gustason replied, “Yes, he is.”
On Tuesday, officials honored the boy for his courageous actions.
Firefighters said everyone should learn how to treat serious wounds like the one Banister suffered.
Banister said she’s thankful Smith knew how to render aid to her, and she expressed her gratitude to the first responders who came to her rescue.
“They’ll always be special to me. They always have been, but this particular time, God really showed me just how wonderful they are,” she said.
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