What started as their first weekend away for Angela and Andy Meyer since Covid-19 was interrupted by an urgent phone call from their son, Braden Meyer.
“He’s very calm,” Angela Meyer said. “And he goes ‘mom, dad, grandma fell and she’s not talking’.”
That phone call was crucially important for Braden Meyer’s grandmother Karen Meyer.
“If he hadn’t been brave enough to recognize that this was bad, that something had happened, then she probably wouldn’t be with us today,” Carney Fire Department medical officer Sarah Smith said.
Carney Fire Department presented Braden Meyer with a certificate April 24 for his bravery in seeking medical help for his grandmother.
Survival Flight, Agra Fire, the Tryon Fire Chief, Carney Fire and Chandler EMS were also present at the certificate presentation.
“Braden got to do a tour of the fire station and look at the different ambulances and get a big certificate at the very end, so he was really excited for that,” Smith said.
The certificate recognized the role that Braden’s calmness and bravery under pressure played in getting medical assistance to his grandmother, Karen Meyer.
She had been walking down the porch steps of her house behind Braden Meyer the morning of April 17 with Gizmo the dog in her arms when she fell.
“The information that we received from the hospital is that more than likely she ended up suffering another minor stroke and that’s what caused her to fall,” Angela Meyer said.
Gizmo was unharmed from the fall but Karen Meyer was unresponsive.
Braden called his mother for help and they called several neighbors for assistance.
“Sean was the first to arrive as he was on the phone with me, so he was able to tell me what was going on so I could kind of assess from afar,” Angela Meyer said.
Angela Meyer had worked as a nurse for 8 years and Sean Sar was a former volunteer firefighter and family friend who lived very close by.
“When I got on the scene Braden was knelt down next to his grandma still trying to talk to her,” Sar said.
“Kind of shaking her because she was face down on the concrete. He wasn’t real panicky, just, you know, ‘Hey, grandma, hey, grandma’ shaking her, trying to get her to wake up.”
Sar said he checked for vital signs and several people, including Sar, called 911.
“When I called 911, they asked me for the address and Braden knew his address and was able to give it to me without me having to really research it or do something else,” he said.
“So for a young man to know his address, I thought that was pretty cool.”
Several more neighbors and the first responders arrived and Karen Meyer was flown to a hospital in Oklahoma City for care.
She has since been released from the hospital and returned home.
“To be able to go through it and to realize how important it is to get the ambulance here and to get them here on time,” Karen Meyer said. “I think it’s unreal.”
Angela Meyer said she was proud of Braden for his actions.
“To be honest, when I think about it, it melts my heart, because for an eight-year-old to step up and respond the way that he did was more impressive to me than most adults would do,” she said. “And especially with the way that the world is now, for a child of his generation to do what he did is pretty remarkable, so as a parent, I’m proud.”