By Alyssa Newcomb / Good Morning America
- Texas Man Pins New Deputy Days After He Was Saved From Death (ABC News)
As a volunteer deputy fresh out of the police academy, Wes Manion had seen enough dead bodies to know that the bloated man that had washed up on a Galveston, Texas beach was dead.
"I almost didn't do CPR,'' said Manion, 31. "It looked like he had been dead forever."
The man had a greenish hue and foam coming out of his nose and mouth. He certainly seemed dead, Manion said. Nevertheless, Manion pulled him on shore, cleared his airway and started doing chest compressions for several minutes, while he directed bystanders to help cut a bucket from the man's waist and untangle fishing wire from his wrist.
"My training kicked in. You can't not do it. You can't live with yourself if some guy dies and you didn't try," Manion said.
Miraculously, Jason Roy, a 28-year-old fisherman, spit out a bunch of water and began to breathe. Still unconscious, paramedics airlifted him to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where a feeding tube was placed into his nose to harvest his organs since he was not expected to survive, Manion said.
If he did survive, doctors believed Roy would live in a vegetative state.
Just nine days later, Roy was standing, laughing and talking "like normal" to bestow a special honor on his hero.
Roy, the "walking miracle," pinned a badge on Manion's uniform Monday at an induction ceremony for a class of 12 new deputy constable in Harris County Precinct 6.
New deputies, who volunteer a few days per week, usually choose a friend or family member, someone who has made an impact in their lives. Manion chose Roy, calling the life-changing experience they shared "inspirational."
"It's all on him. I just did the compressions. Inside and out, he's a miracle," he said.
Roy said all he remembers is waking up in the hospital.
"Doctors are telling me that I am a miracle, that I should be on tubes and on a ventilator for the rest of my life. The best they looked for was brain dead," he told ABC affiliate KTRK.
Roy has a few broken or cracked ribs from where Manion did compressions, he said, but no other injuries, Manion said.
Not a day has gone by since Roy was released when the two haven't been in contact.
"He's a great guy. He's going to be a great friend to me," Manion said.
Have a "Greatful" Day!
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