TV staffer saves infant son's life with CPR

If you've never taken a CPR class, let WRAL employee Phillip Boyd be your inspiration to sign up for one. He recently saved his infant son's life using CPR and graciously agreed to share his story.

Blake Thomas Boyd was born on Good Friday, April 6, and Phillip and his wife, Kristin, were thrilled to be first-time parents. One day, while Phillip was still taking time off to be with his wife and new child, the young family had a truly frightening experience.

"My wife was breast-feeding our child and, after she got done, she went to hand him to me to burp him. And his lips had turned purplish blue, and it looked like maybe he was having a tough time breathing," Phillip said. "We took him, we put him down on the floor, and Kristin grabbed the phone and called 911."

He gave his son two breaths and did 30 compressions about four times before paramedics arrived.

"I was talking with the 911 operator and he was instructing me to put my ear to (Blake's) mouth and watch his chest and tell him each time I saw him breathe," Phillip said. "The EMT workers got there. They came into the house, and then they immediately started assessing the situation, seeing what was wrong. They realized he had started breathing again … It was scary, surreal, I mean, it was a gamut of emotions."

The new father was trained in CPR as a Boy Scout and took First Responder and CPR training through Capitol Broadcasting Company several years ago. Before Blake’s arrival, he and his wife took a refresher course in infant CPR at WakeMed on March 20.

“We were very fortunate to have been added to that class as we registered the week before the class. Those classes fill up really quick and the next offering would not have been until the middle of July," Phillip said. “I cannot stress enough to people how important it is to learn CPR, particularly if you are about to have a child."