Two nurses save man's life at St. Patrick's Parade

Lew Smiley had just arrived at Wilmington's St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday with his wife and dog.

Five minutes later, he was on the ground helping to perform CPR on a man in a kilt.

Kerry Anne White was nearby, at near North King Street and Seventh Street. At about the same time she looked over to see her father rushing toward a man in a tartan outfit who had fallen.

She came closer and discovered he had collapsed and stopped breathing.

"He started to turn this ashy-gray color," White said. "I knew he was gone."

A panicked bystander ran and grabbed Wilmington police Lt. Malcolm Stoddard.

The policeman sprinted to the scene and recognized the man, former judge Don Callender, who was lying on his back unresponsive.

Stoddard crouched beside Callender and put two fingers on Callender's wrist to check for a pulse – nothing.

Karlee McGinnis knelt down opposite Stoddard and informed him she was a nurse. She began doing chest compressions.

The officer got up and raced over to his squad car, 30 feet away, to retrieve a CPR mask and an automated external defibrillator. He was preparing for the worst, he said. While running, Stoddard called for the paramedics.

White's brother and father kept the crowds back while she, too, called 911, White said.

In the minute the officer was grabbing supplies, Smiley, a nurse at Wilmington hospital, arrived on the scene to help McGinnis in a two-person CPR – Smiley started resuscitation breathing and McGinnis continued with compressions.

"When I came onto the scene, he was dead," Smiley said. "He had no heartbeat and no pulse. If she hadn't started compressions when she did, I don't think he would have made it."

A slow-moving minute passed. A faint pulse roused. Callender gasped for air.

"He turned back to a pinkish color, and we saw his eyes come back to life," White said. "They brought him back from the dead."

Paramedics were at the intersection within two minutes of Stoddard's call and took over.

"We turned over life-saving measure to paramedics when they arrived," Stoddard said.

Callender was taken to Saint Francis Hospital, where on Sunday he was in good spirits and stable condition, according to his son, Joe Callender.

Judge Callender asked Stoddard for McGinnis' number to personally thank her, the officer said.

White believes her faith in humanity is restored after Saturday.

"There two people need to know they impacted not only the man and his family but everyone who saw," White said. "It makes me think that despite everything, the good will outweigh the bad always."

​​​​​​Contact Josephine Peterson at (302) 324-2856 or jhpeterson@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jopeterson93.

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