Family gives thanks to hometown heroes

CPR knowledge saves two young men after farm accident near Johnstown

Tim Frank and his brother, Dan, were working with their cousin, Paul Frank, in a field southwest of Johnstown.

The three of them have been out there many times before, Tim said.

This time, though, was anything but routine.

There was a slight mist in the air that afternoon in May, Tim recalled. Then, tragedy struck.

"It's almost indescribable," Tim said.

Suddenly, something forced his eyes to shut and every muscle in his body to tighten.

Then, it was completely silent.

The pipe the Franks were carrying somehow connected with a charge from a nearby power line, knocking all three of them unconscious.

Nobody was around.

When Tim regained consciousness, he recalled, the silence was replaced with a massive ringing in his ears. He gathered all of the strength to crawl to the closest person to him. It was his brother, Dan, who wasn't breathing. But Tim instinctively knew exactly what to do. Weak and still frazzled, he started CPR compressions.

As soon as Dan started to breath on his own, Tim stumbled over to where his cousin was lying. When he saw a truck driving down the road, he tried to wave down the driver to get help. He didn't know it at the time, but the driver of that truck was a longtime family friend, Cole Cunningham, who was on his way to the grocery store after a long day of work.

Cole, a former lifeguard, saw Tim struggling in the field and knew something was wrong. He turned his truck around to help. He started CPR on Paul and helped describe their location to the 911 operator who dispatched the first responders to the scene.

When a serious medical emergency arises, every minute counts.

Thanks to CPR training, Tim Frank and Cole Cunningham knew exactly what to do. Their instincts just kicked in.

Because of them and the first responders who rushed to the scene, the whole family has something extra special to celebrate this season.