4-Year-Old Pa. Boy Saves His Mom`s Life

April 07--Back when every home had a traditional telephone, it was easy to teach kids how to call for help during an emergency.

They just had to dial 9-1-1 and answer a few questions to summon police, fire or ambulance crews. But as cellphones replaced home phones, that process got more complicated.

Most cellphones are set to require the user to enter a pass code to "unlock" the phone before dialing, and that extra step makes it harder for children to call 9-1-1.

Like most parents, Corryn Barrell never thought her cellphone pass code would cause her any trouble. But if not for the quick thinking of her 4-year old son, Hunter, and the timely presence of a police officer, it could have cost Barrell, who lives in Fleetwood, her life.

"I don't think I'd have seen 30 if it wasn't for my son," Barrell said.

Barrell was still 29 on the morning of Feb. 28 when a vein ruptured in her brain, resulting in a seizure and a hemorrhagic stroke, a potentially fatal combination.

Hunter found his mom on the first floor of their home, unconscious and foaming from her mouth. His dad, Josh Barrell, was at work.

Hunter tried to wake her, but couldn't. The boy grabbed toilet paper to wipe her mouth, but the foam kept coming.

Hunter had learned about 9-1-1 at day care, so he picked up his mom's iPhone and tried to dial those three digits but didn't realize he was on the pass code screen. The call wouldn't go through.

Though he was scared, Hunter realized he had to get help some other way. He looked out the window and saw Fleetwood Patrolman Michael Quinn, who fortunately was on the block for another call.

Hunter left the house and told Quinn that his mommy wouldn't wake up. Quinn went into the home and called for an ambulance.

Barrell was flown from St. Joseph Medical Center to Penn State Hershey Medical Center, where she remained in a coma for close to a week.

She's since been discharged and is still recuperating and undergoing regular therapy.

She made sure to remove the pass code requirement on her cellphone.

Pass codes are security measures intended to keep others from using your phone, but while Barrell worries that removing hers might allow Hunter to buy more apps than he should, that's outweighed by her need for him to be able to call 9-1-1 if there's another emergency.

"I think there is a really, really good lesson here for everyone," she said.

Fleetwood Police Chief Steven Stinsky agrees, saying that parents with cellphones should either have their children memorize their pass code or teach them to dial 9-1-1 using the emergency call box that pops up on most pass code screens.

"That's the big takeaway from all this," Stinsky said.

The Berks County Communications Center received 37,519 emergency calls from cellphones between October and December, far more than the 13,167 received from landlines, said Matt Stairiker, deputy director of the Berks County Department of Emergency Services.

The center actually prefers that callers use landlines because the center can immediately trace those calls to an address. Tracking cellphone calls is much slower and inexact.

But if a cellphone is the only option, children and adults must be prepared to give their precise street address. That's why it's important for children to remember where they live, Stairiker said.

"Absolutely, the most important information you can give us is where you are," he said. "You need to know the municipality and street address."

The problem the communications center faces is that even adults often don't know where they are. Some confuse their mailing address with the municipality they actually live in, while others are having a medical emergency that clouds their thinking.

Barrell hopes she'll never be in that position again. But she's relieved to know her son will be ready to help if the worst happens.

He's already proved to be a good guy to have around in an emergency.

"I'm very proud of him," Barrell said. "He's my hero."

Contact Mike Urban: 610-371-5023 or murban@readingeagle.com.

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