Spanish Fork High School athletes credited with saving man’s life after medical incident

SPANISH FORK — Two Spanish Fork High School athletes are being hailed as heroes for saving the life of a father of five, who is a Bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It happened Saturday morning during a cross-country meet in Spanish Fork. Farris Child, 49, was there to watch his son compete in a race, when he suddenly collapsed after suffering a massive heart attack.

PJ Merrill, 16, and Traven Elquist, 17, were both preparing to run their 5K race when they saw the commotion.

“They start yelling, ‘Hey we need help. Go get help! We need a medic!’” Merrill told KSL TV. He said when he ran over, all the students were just standing around in shock not sure what to do.

“I see this guy on the floor gasping for air. I roll him over, ‘Hey I think he went into cardiac arrest, everyone give me room.’”

Elquist also ran over, wanting to do what he could to help. “It just kicked in. I was like, I want to go help.”

He said no one had called 911. So he got on the phone with dispatch while Merrill started to perform CPR, which he learned from a class he took last school year.

“I was just saying one, two, three, four, five, six,” Merrill said, as he showed how he clasped his hands and pushed on Child’s chest. At first, no pulse, but then Child suddenly could be heard gasping for air.

“I was so relieved. I was so relieved, I was worried he was going to die on me,” Merrill said.

“Emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually trained me,” Elquist said. “This guy could die right here right now.”

Rory Eyring, the head athletic trainer at the school, was the one who taught the kids CPR last school year. He ran over with a defibrillator as Merrill was performing CPR. He said the kids saved Child’s life.

“Every second matters as to know what to do,” he said. “No doubt. No doubt in my mind if they would have waited any longer it could have been a different outcome.”

“They are a miracle to us,” an emotional Deeanna Child, wife of Farris Child, said. She spoke to KSL TV from St. Mark’s Hospital, where her husband is still in the ICU after quintuple bypass surgery.

“I’ve been weepy. They’re amazing. I don’t think I would have had the strength to do that as a teenager,” she said. “He had died. His heart had stopped. It stopped, and they brought him back.”

Deeanna Child said this was a real shocker for the family. She said her husband is a very healthy 49-year-old who is a runner, and always exercising.

She told KSL TV that members of the ward have been amazing in supporting them, and prayers have been answered.

“His doctor says everything’s going well, and his nurses are very optimistic,” she said.