QUICK-THINKING 8-YEAR-OLD SAVES BROTHER'S LIFE; BOY, 11, HANGS HIMSELF ACCIDENTALLY WHILE PLAYING

Because of his brother's quick thinking, Andrew Wethington's only lasting injury from accidentally hanging himself is rope burns on his neck.

Andrew, 11, and his 8-year-old brother, Kyle Flynn, were all smiles as they sat on Andrew's bed at St. Francis Medical Center just before he was released Thursday afternoon. But on Wednesday afternoon the pair had been in a life-or-death situation that unfolded in the Flynns' back yard.

"We were outside playing and my brother started acting like he was going to hang himself," said Kyle, who was eager to tell the story of the rescue.

According to the boys, around 3 p.m. Wednesday Andrew tied one end of a jump rope to the family's backyard deck and tied a slip knot at the other end. Standing on a plastic playhouse under the end of the deck, Andrew slipped the rope around his neck. But when the playhouse slipped out from under him, the make-believe hangman's noose became the real thing.

"Andrew was yelling, Kyle, I'm choking. Help,'" Kyle said.

When Kyle couldn't untie the knot that held the rope to the deck, he ran inside, got a knife and cut the rope. Andrew dropped to the ground, unconscious and with the noose still tight around his neck.

Kyle ran inside and got his grandfather, Gael Florea, who had been inside while the boys were playing. While Florea got the noose off Andrew's neck, Kyle called 9-1-1.

"The doctors said that if Kyle had dialed 9-1-1 first and then cut Andrew down, it would have been a lot worse," said Kyle's father and Andrew's stepfather, Glenn Flynn. Flynn and his wife, Michele, the boys' mother, were both at work when the accident happened.

"They called me right after they called 9-1-1. I was home in about five minutes and the ambulance had already come," Glenn Flynn said.

Michele Flynn said doctors were worried there had been brain or neurologic damage when Andrew was brought to St. Francis. He was unconscious for several hours, one of his arms was drawn up in a claw and his feet weren't responding to stimuli properly.

"Then at 5:55 Wednesday night he woke up and knew his name and his brother's name," Michele Flynn said. "They think brainwise, he's wonderful."

The Flynns and Andrew's father, Robert Wethington, are thankful Andrew didn't get seriously hurt. The Flynns threw away the jump rope and got rid of the playhouse.

And they encouraged other parents to emphasize to their children that they should never put anything around their neck.

They are also proud of Kyle and the quick actions that saved his brother's life.

Kyle's parents said he learned about emergency procedures both at home and at Clippard Elementary, where both boys are students.

"I'm glad I was there for Andrew," Kyle said. "I feel happy that I saved him."