Teenage chess player saves girl’s life at Peoria hotel
By Victoria Berkow
Of the Journal Star
Posted Feb. 14, 2015 at 6:01 PM
Updated at 6:05 PM
PEORIA — Chess is a game of strategy, skill and knowledge. Fortunately, Andrew Wilson has strategy, skill and knowledge when it comes to saving lives, too.
The 16-year-old was in town Friday for the Illinois High School Association’s annual chess tournament, staying at the SpringHill Suites on West Lake Avenue with his teammates. After a long first day at the tournament, Wilson learned a young girl had a seizure in the hotel pool, and she needed CPR, quickly.
“I didn’t ever expect to be in that situation,” said Wilson, a sophomore at Streamwood High School in the northwest Chicago suburbs. “I knew there were kids in the pool, and we heard screaming. I turned to my friend and said, ‘Do you hear those kids screaming?’ We thought they were playing.”
A small crowd of children and adults ran into the lobby, and a man pleaded for someone to give the girl CPR. She did not appear to be breathing. Wilson stepped up.
“My mind kind of just went blank. I went into a mode where I needed to get there fast,” he said. “All I was thinking about was if the person was going to be OK.”
Wilson performed about 40 compressions on the girl before she revived and began to breathe on her own. She was soon rushed to a hospital, Wilson said. Her condition was unavailable Saturday.
Full article here.