THREE JOIN IN TO SAVE BOY'S LIFE

A Cape Girardeau family physician, his son and a family friend were in the right place at the right time to rescue and revive a 4-year-old boy trapped under a capsized canoe.

Dr. Paul Spence, his son, Mark, and John Beussink, saved young Andrew Walker from the Current River during the Labor Day weekend.

In a telephone interview from her home in Boonville, Ind., Andrew's mother, Teresa Walker, said, "I'm so glad that there are such wonderful people in the world. I would definitely call them heroes.

"Everybody was so wonderful. I have thanked God for them every day," Walker said. "And I will probably thank God every day from now on."

Walker explained that she and Andrew, her two brothers and their girlfriends decided to make the trip from Indiana to Van Buren for a day of canoeing. "We just heard about the Current River and thought it would be fun," she said.

The Spence family and the Beussinks were camped near Van Buren for the holiday and also planned a three-hour float trip that Sunday.

The trip began smoothly, Walker said. "Then we rounded a bend and saw a tree in the river. We tried to paddle out of the way, but the current caught the canoe and started to turn it sideways. When we were starting to tip over we were laughing about it at first. I said `Oh Sherry, we're going to tip over.' I reached for Andrew and just then the water gushed in and sucked us under.

"It turned over so fast I couldn't do anything. I was under the canoe and I couldn't see Andrew. I thought he must have gotten out."

Walker estimated it took her about two minutes to get out from under the capsized canoe. The other girl in the canoe managed to get out before it turned over.

"When I came up I looked downstream for Andrew, but I didn't see him. That's when I realized he must be stuck in there."

Her brothers tried to swim under the canoe to find the boy but were swept away by the rushing water. They tried to lift the canoe, but it was pinned against the tree stump by the current of the river.

Andrew's mother was also pinned against another part of the tree stump by the water.

"The only thing I knew to do was start screaming for help," she said.

Just moments before the accident, the Spence's party had rounded the same bend.

Phyllis Spence, wife of Dr. Spence, said: "About 45 minutes after the trip began, we came around a bend. The current was real swift and there was a big tree and a big stump in the middle of the river."

As they paddled to avoid the same stump, Lisa Beussink, wife of John Beussink, was knocked out of the canoe.

Phyllis Spence said, "We all were waiting on the shore about half a block away from the bend for everyone to get back together. It's a good thing they did tip over because then we heard all this screaming. A woman was screaming, `My baby, my baby.'"

Dr. Spence, Mark Spence and Beussink ran upstream on the bank. Mark and Beussink reached the stump first. Beussink headed into the water but was swept downstream. Mark went upstream a little farther and let the current sweep him to the canoe. Beussink followed as did Dr. Spence.

The water was about chest deep. "It was all I could do to hold on," Dr. Spence said.

The canoe was pinned against the tree about 15 or 20 feet from the bank.

Beussink said, "Mark and I managed to get some leverage and push up one end of the canoe." Beussink could see the boy under the canoe.

"He was floating face up, wearing a life jacket. He was unconscious and he was white real white," Beussink said. "I couldn't reach him so I yelled for Paul. But he couldn't see him."

Dr. Spence grabbed under the canoe two or three times. "I saw a tennis shoe, so I reached for it." But the shoe was off the child's foot.

"I thought we were going to have a dead baby," Dr. Spence said.

He finally grabbed the boy by the life jacket.

Phyllis, watching the scene from the bank, said, "Paul pulled that baby from under the canoe and in one motion started mouth to mouth."

Dr. Spence said, "I had him by one arm, trying to blow in his mouth. He was limp and not moving. I was trying to hold on myself and not get swept away.

"I gave him three or four breaths, but I didn't think I was being very effective. I felt we might need to do a full resuscitation."

Paul Spence handed the child to someone else standing on the tree stump so he could get out of the water. On land, he could properly administer CPR. But when he handed the child out of the water, the boy began to cry.

Paul Spence estimates that Andrew was under water about four minutes. "But it seemed like hours," he said.

"That little boy very easily could have drowned. Everything happened just the way it is supposed to."

Beussink added, "I think God was looking after that little boy."

The boy's mother said, "I can't get over how great they were. They were so calm and they knew what to do."

Mark said, "We didn't do anything anybody else wouldn't have done in the same situation. We were just at the right place at the right time."

Dr. Spence said, "I don't see how Mark and John lifted that canoe. Anyone who canoes knows that sometimes when you get a canoe pinned it takes hours and it takes six or eight men to get it out of the water."

Beussink said, "It definitely took team work. No one of us could have done it alone."

A large crowd of people had gathered at the site. One man driving a john boat took the family to a landing downstream.

About five minutes after the john boat left, a water patrol officer came by in a boat. When apprised of the situation, he radioed ahead to have an ambulance and paramedics waiting at the landing.

Andrew's mother said, "We got in an ambulance and had about a 50-minute drive to Lucy Lee Hospital (in Poplar Bluff).

"Andrew was really exhausted and wanted to fall asleep, but he had two bad bumps on his head and the paramedics told me not to let him go to sleep.

At the hospital, Walker said, doctors checked Andrew and found that he was fine. In fact, the boy went home to Indiana with his family that evening.

Walker said, "I don't think he's old enough to realize how dangerous it was. He told me on the way to the hospital, `That water was deep,' and that he had been screaming for me under there."

She said Andrew still has a little bruise over his left eye, but a checkup with his family doctor found he is fine.

Walker talked with the Spences last week after Andrew's checkup to let them know he was fine.

"I can't thank those people enough. I'm so glad that they were there. Most definitely they are our heroes."