Hero kids named First Aid Champions for saving dad during seizure
A month after saving their dad’s life, two Warragul siblings have been named Victoria’s 2024 First Aid Champions. Twelve others were also recognised for their bravery. WATCH THE VIDEO
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Fletcher and Mavis Van Kaathoven have been recognised as first aid heroes for saving their dad’s life when he suffered a seizure, one month to the day of the ordeal.
On July 20, 11-year-old Fletcher saw Jeremy Van Kaathoven “shaking” and rushed to his aid at their Warragul home. His nine-year-old sister fought through her fears to support him by calling for help.
The super siblings were named Victoria’s First Aid Champions for 2024 at a St John Ambulance Victoria awards ceremony on August 20.
Twelve other lifesavers were also honoured, including 18-year-old Nicholas Kabiotis, who performed CPR for more than 10 minutes to save his father, George, when he collapsed at a family lunch.
Mr Van Kaathoven said without his children, “I would have just gone to sleep in the backyard and not woken up”.
The seizure hit “totally out of the blue” while he was splitting wood, causing him to become unresponsive. His wife, Cobi, was out shopping.
Fletcher instinctively followed the DRSABC action plan, which involved removing a dangerous object – the axe his dad was using – from the site, checking if his dad was responsive and breathing, and putting him in the recovery position to help clear his airway.
He said when he did the latter, his dad “took a big gush of breath, and a whole load of stress came off my shoulders”.
“His eyes were going into the back of his head, so I said, ‘move any part of your body if you can hear me’. And he moved his hand,” Fletcher recalled.
He then sat his dad up and used his own body to shield him from the falling rain. When Mavis ran out in tears, Fletcher directed her to call for help.
“She couldn’t get a hold of mum because of bad reception, so she called out neighbour, who helped me pick dad up and take him inside,” he said. They called triple-0 and paramedics took Mr Van Kaathoven to the hospital.
Fletcher said throughout the ordeal, he was thinking, “what’s the point of crying? I just need to get it done and then I can cry”.
“I’m pretty proud,” added Fletcher, who credits Scouts and Cubs for teaching him first aid. “And I’m very grateful for Mavis helping me.
“If I hadn’t known DRSABC, things would be a lot worse. It’s very bone chilling to think that that could have happened.”
Mrs Van Kaathoven said: “It was my worst fears coming true – I wasn’t at the house, it was the two little ones looking after their dad and they wouldn’t get through to me.
“It was totally out of the blue. He’s very fit and healthy.
“Half my tears on that day were from how proud I was of my kids.”
St John statistics show how special Fletcher and Mavis are – just 9 per cent of Australians told a recent survey that they would be very confident to administer first aid in an emergency.
Chief executive Gordon Botwright said the organisation was “celebrating first aid so that others can be inspired to learn the skills to save a life”.
“Our goal, by 2026, is for 53 per cent of Victorians to say they are confident or very confident to provide first aid, by doubling our delivery of first aid education programs (to train 300,000 people per year),” he said.
FIRST AID CHAMPIONS 2024
Awarded by St John Ambulance Victoria
Overall winners:
Fletcher and Mavis Van Kaathoven
First Aid Champions:
Nicholas Kabiotis – for calling triple-0, following the DRSABCD protocol and performing uninterrupted CPR for more than 10 minutes to save his father, George, who collapsed while having lunch at their Nonna’s house in June. Nicholas, 18, said: “My dad would have died on that day if I didn’t know what to do. I was panicking, but putting my head and my mental space aside … allowed me to do what I had to do. I just love him, plain and simple. I just flew into action and told myself, you’ve got a role to play. To know that eight-hour day (of first aid training) has given me years more with my dad – it’s the best eight hours I’ve ever spent.”
Peter Grant – for performing CPR, using a defibrillator and calling triple-0 when his colleague, Ian, suffered a major cardiac arrest. Peter had attended a St John CPR course with Ian a year earlier.
Paul Giordano – for delivering effective back blows to dislodge an obstruction that caused his 21-year-old niece, Chloe, to stop breathing and lose consciousness.
Phillip Swansborough – for performing first aid to save his daughter, Annabel, when she suddenly collapsed and became unresponsive, causing her pulse to fade and her skin to turn blue. Mr Swansborough administered CPR for 22 minutes until paramedics arrived and used a defibrillator to restore Annabel’s heartbeat. He saved her life and ensured she did not suffer severe brain damage.
Stevie Gustus – for performing CPR on his friend, Peter, who suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest, turned blue and collapsed. Peter has since made a full recovery and expresses deep gratitude for Stevie’s bravery.
Nagaraj Nayak – for administering CPR and using a defibrillator on colleague Ricardo, after he collapsed at work in June. Ricardo’s wife, son and colleagues have all since acknowledged Raj as a hero.
Honourable mentions:
Maksim Kachelov, 12
Craig Harvey and Louis Martindale
Emily O’Connor, 17
Muhammad Hassanain
Jordan Bury
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