Thanks to quick-thinking and calm, a teen in eastern Maine was able to save his mom. Kristen Iarrobino just wanted to step outside in her slippers for a moment, and considered the possibility that the ground was more treacherous than it looked and she might need better footwear. “I thought well, I want my feet to be warm,” she told WABI. She tripped, fell, and landed with one hand on her coffee cup, which broke. A shard from the cup sliced her wrist so deeply that “the hand surgeon said I was a quarter of an inch going through my entire wrist,” Kristen told CNN. Kristen saw the wound and immediately told her son, Cyrus, 16, to call 911. Cyrus thought she might be overreacting, until he saw the wound.
The 911 dispatcher told them it would be at least 15 minutes before an ambulance could get to them, and, once Cyrus explained just how much blood there was, told him to make a tourniquet. Cyrus went hunting for a string and a piece of wood, and landed on his brand new shoes as a source of string. “I had these new shoes that I had just bought, like brand new, and I just ripped the strings right off them like some subconscious Hulk strength,” Cyrus said. He grabbed a small piece of plywood from beside the house and twisted the string tight. Kristen said it was the most painful thing she’d ever experienced—more painful than having a baby. Two surgeries later, Kristen has a noticeable scar, and a lot of gratitude for EMTs, hospital staff, and Cyrus’ ability to stay calm in a crisis. (More uplifting news stories.)