[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6103-6104]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO KYLE MANGINI

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity to pay tribute 
to an extraordinary young man from Blandford, Massachusetts. Kyle 
Mangini is a 13-year-old Boy Scout who, while on vacation with his 
family, saved his 16-year-old cousin, Santiago Garcia, from drowning.
  Santiago was swimming and suddenly began to drown, sinking to the 
bottom of the pool. Kyle saw his cousin and immediately realized that 
he was in great danger. He leaped into the pool and pulled his older, 
much larger cousin out of the water.
  Kyle's quick reaction saved precious seconds and probably saved 
Santiago's life. Santiago was successfully resuscitated by an emergency 
medical technician. It was Kyle's lifesaving training as a Boy Scout 
that prepared him for the emergency. Had it not been for Kyle's brave 
and timely rescue, his cousin Santiago could have suffered serious 
brain damage or death.
  Kyle Mangini is a credit to the Boy Scouts and a true profile in 
courage for the State of Massachusetts. It is an honor to pay tribute 
to him today, and I ask unanimous consent that an article on his action 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Country Journal, Apr. 1, 1999]

         Quick-Thinking Blandford Boy Scout Saves Cousin's Life

                           (By Mary Kronholm)

       Not every vacation is an adventure, nor is every vacation 
     fraught with life-threatening

[[Page 6104]]

     incidents. But vacations are supposed to have happy endings.
       Kyle Mangini was enjoying the last day of his Christmas 
     vacation with his father, Dan Mangini, on Nevis, an island in 
     the West Indies. His cousin, Santiago Garcia from Manchester, 
     Conn. was with him.
       The boys had become accustomed to visiting the beach and 
     pool at the next door resort, Nesbit Plantation, and went for 
     a final swim. As usual, the boys tested themselves to see how 
     long they could hold their breath under water. Kyle, 13 years 
     old, told Santiago he was going to get his towel and 
     suggested a breather. When Kyle returned from the family spot 
     on the beach, about five yards away, he saw that Santiago was 
     still at the game, and underwater.
       A poolside bystander made the observation to Kyle that his 
     friend was now pretending to be an underwater crab.
       As Kyle watched, Santiago turned over, still at the bottom 
     of the pool, in five feet of water. ``His arm was twitching 
     and his mouth was open,'' said Kyle, who realized at that 
     moment that something was terribly wrong.
       ``I jumped in, swam to the bottom, put my arm under his and 
     pulled him to the top,'' he said.
       As Kyle brought Santiago to the side of the pool, 
     bystanders helped pull him out. Someone went to call for an 
     ambulance, while others asked if anyone knew CPR. While Kyle 
     does know how to administer CPR, an Emergency Medical 
     Technician was staying at the resort, and stepped in to help.
       According to Dan, the wait for the ambulance was about a 
     half-an-hour. ``The ambulance went to the wrong place and had 
     to be redirected,'' he said.
       ``As the EMT performed CPR, Santiago was convulsing, and it 
     was necessary, to hold his body down,'' said Dan. Kyle said 
     that initially there was no pulse, but as soon as the CPR 
     started, Santiago began breathing again. It was several hours 
     later, accompanied by much medication, that the boy's body 
     relaxed, and it was several more hours before anyone knew 
     what shape Santiago was in.
  ``No one knows just exactly how long Santiago was under water,'' said 
Dan, who said the doctors at the Nevis Hospital were most concerned 
about possible brain damage.
  ``We went to visit him that evening, but the next morning, he had no 
recollection of our visit,'' said Dan.
  On successive visits to the hospital, Kyle asked questions of 
Santiago, assuring, from his answers, that all was well.
  Santiago was in the hospital for five days. His aunt, Maria, Kyle's 
step-mother, stayed with him throughout the days to help with feeding 
and necessary exercises, essential to restore lung capacity and 
breathing.
  Kyle said that a doctor at the hospital told him that if he had gone 
to get help instead of pulling Santiago out himself, the boy would not 
have survived, as his lungs would have been completely filled with 
water.
  As it was, according to Dan, it was almost 24 hours before anyone 
knew what the prognosis was going to be. Santiago has since been seen 
by his own physician and a neurologist, and been given a clean bill of 
health.
  Mary Mangini, Kyle's mother, is proud of her son because just as Kyle 
was so quick to react to the situation, he is quite a bit lighter than 
his cousin.
  Santiago, at 16 years old, weighs 180 pounds, and is about five feet 
9 inches. ``He's very big,'' said Kyle, who weighs 85 pounds and 
measures five feet tall.
  Kyle attributes his ability to act quickly to his knowledge of 
lifesaving acquired as part of his merit badge work while taking 
lifesaving at the Moses Boy Scout Camp in Russell.
  ``. . . and that's how I knew what to do,'' Kyle said.
  Kyle's scout leader, David Olzewski, said that Kyle has been 
participating in the scouting program since he was Cub Scout age, about 
nine-years-old. ``He's a good kid, and one of the oldest scouts in the 
troop,'' he said, adding that Kyle is the troop guide.
  This is not Kyle's first successful rescue. A few years ago, he and 
neighbor John Mulligan came upon a Herrick Road neighbor, Harold Wyman, 
who had fallen in his icy walkway and was not able to get up. Kyle 
reacted in the same, quick, responsive manner, by sending John to the 
telephone and dialing 911, while he found blankets for Mr. Wyman, and 
comforted him until help arrived.
  Kyle is an eighth grade student at Gateway Regional Middle School and 
next year will attend Pioneer Valley School of Performing Arts, in 
Hadley, a charter school. He plays the guitar and enjoys acting and was 
most recently seen as Will Scarlett in the middle school production of 
the musical, Robin Hood.

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