A 9-year-old boy who nearly drowned in the Pilchuck River talked to KIRO 7 on Wednesday about his mother’s heroic efforts that saved his life.
Travis Anderson's mother performed CPR on him after he'd spent five minutes underwater. Many others would have drowned in that amount of time.
Travis was playing with his brother Wednesday, and had a simple way of explaining what happened to him.
“Bad and good things do happen,” he said. “Bad things happen for good things.”
Travis was near the riverbank with his brother and sister the day of the accident, and slipped under a tree. The forceful current wedged his head underwater.
Asked what he thought about his ordeal, Travis said, “I don’t like it. I don’t think anyone does.”
His mother, Kim, immediately saw that Travis was in trouble and fought for nearly five minutes to pull him out. She fought again to keep him alive on shore, and performed CPR while her daughter used a bystander’s cell phone to call for help.
“I was terrified, and I knew when I saw Travis on the bank that I would fight, and that’s the thought that went through my head: ‘I’ll be fighting,’” Kim said. “And I didn’t quit, even though Travis was definitely not here.”
Travis said he doesn’t remember the flight to Children’s Hospital or spending more than two weeks in the intensive care unit.
“I was comforted by – and I believe God was telling me then, everything was going to be OK,” Kim said.
Prayers poured in from around the world. Hundreds of people signed get-well cards and held vigils.
Travis said two things kept him alive: his mother’s strength and his family’s strength of spirit.
“I’ve never been touched like this with so much support,” Kim said.
“I feel blessed,” Travis said.
Travis is still fighting pneumonia and faces months of physical therapy. His doctors asked him to do one thing: pass on the importance of knowing CPR.
Kim said she’s glad to do it.