By James Evans
Khyrstyne Dunaway and Casey Comer both work in special education at John Colemon Elementary School.
Until this school year, they had a friendly relationship like most co-workers do. They had consulted on various students and greeted each other in the hallways.
But their paths changed drastically in September. You see, that’s when Dunaway’s child, Lex — who attends prekindergarten at the school — was found unconscious after nap time. His skin and his lips had turned the dreaded tint of blue.
He wasn’t breathing. And he didn’t have a heartbeat. On that day, Dunaway and Comer’s paths became forever intertwined. Now when they see each other, there is a much greater bond.
“Every time I see her in the hallway, I have to hug her,” Dunaway said of Comer. “I can’t not do that. I think it would be illegal not to do that.”
For her actions to save Lex, Comer — who serves as a special education EA in the Integrated Pre-Kindergarten program at John Colemon — was presented with a Life Saver Award in January by RCS Safety Director Patty Oeser, Director of Schools Dr. Jimmy Sullivan, and the Rutherford County Board of Education.
The other members of the school’s first responder team — Gerald Law, Taylor Mills, Alexandria Wilson and school nurse Whitney Key — all received Letters of Commendation for their roles responding to the emergency.
Lex serves a model student in the special education pre-kindergarten at John Colemon. He is one of three students who stays the full day at the school while a set of special education students attend in the morning session and another group attends in the afternoon. Between the two groups, the students who stay all day take a nap and are supervised by education assistants while the teachers have their planning time.
At the end of nap time on Sept. 27, the class assistant was waking the students and noticed Lex was unresponsive. A “Code Blue” medical emergency was initiated immediately and everyone sprang into action.
Lex was moved to the hallway, and Ms. Comer was across the hall and responded within seconds. And those seconds proved to be valuable.
“The fact that Casey (Comer) got there as fast as she did, I really feel like there were like seconds to play with there, you know?” Dunaway said.
Dunaway works as a special education teacher at John Colemon, and her husband, Stephen, serves as an ESL teacher at the same school.
When the Code Blue was called, Dunaway heard the emergency come across the walkie-talkie she carries for her job, but she didn’t realize it was an emergency involving her own son. Her husband called too, to ask if she knew what was going on, but she didn’t have any details.
A few minutes later, however, she got the call from her principal, Dr. Christy Brown.
“Miss Dunaway, are you listening to this?” Brown said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Dunaway recalls answering.
“I need you to come down to the pre-K hallway,” Brown answered back.
Dunaway, who was eight months pregnant at the time, remembers she began “sprinting” down the hallway.
“Oh my God, it’s my son,” she said.
Comer also remembers with vivid detail the events of the day. She heard the Code Blue and headed immediately toward the other classroom where she found her co-workers with Lex in the hallway. Comer has worked with children for the past 12 years and previously had been certified in CPR. She had let her certification lapse, however, and she had only renewed her certification in July.
She had once wanted to be a police officer, she said, but when she started working with children, she found her true passion.
“I love these kids,” Comer said, “And I believe that’s why God put me here.”
As a member of the school’s first responder team, when she came across Lex in the hallway with her co-worker, her training kicked in.
“A switch went off in my head,” she said. “I saw a little boy who needed help and I was going to do everything in my power. In the moment, I’m a mother, I’m a lover and I’m a teacher, and that’s all I wanted for that child.”
She felt his chest and didn’t find a heartbeat, she patted his back and realized he wasn’t choking, and she started CPR. A little bit of vomit came up, and he revived briefly, but went down again.
She continued CPR.
Dunaway said she later was told that Comer performed CPR for four minutes. Comer said she doesn’t remember how long she did it. She just kept focusing on her training, on making compressions. Over and over.
“I didn’t care at the time,” Comer said. “I just wanted that little boy to be OK.”
In the end, her efforts were enough to save Lex.
He was revived and paramedics arrived on the scene to assist and get him to a nearby hospital.
The Dunaway family later learned that Lex had experienced what is known as a Grand Mal Seizure. He was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy, and he has a high risk of going into cardiac arrest when he has a seizure.
He now takes medication daily to reduce his risk and has not had any long-term developmental setbacks from his ordeal.
Fortunately, he doesn’t remember the events from that day, his mother said.
“He doesn’t remember it, yeah, it’s for the best.”
That’s not true for Dunaway and Comer. They both say the events from the day play on a loop sometimes. They both say they’ve had trouble sleeping because they find themselves worrying about their children in their own beds. Dunaway recalls the first night she was back home with Lex. She didn’t sleep a wink.
“I stayed right by his bed,” she said.
Lex now wears a device at home and school that monitors his vital signs while he sleeps. Comer recalls she didn’t get emotional about the emergency until she got home that first night and began processing the events. She freely admits the emotions overcame her.
“I just thought, wow, I can’t believe this has happened,” Comer said. “And there were times when my kids went to sleep, I didn’t sleep because I wanted to make sure they were OK.”
Both women now say they have a lifelong connection.
“Oh, there’s nothing she could do to stop being my favorite human in the whole world,” Dunaway said. “I called her that night and just fell apart on the phone. I just said, I’ll never forget what you did for our family.’ I mean, we owe our lives to her,” Dunaway said.
And even though he doesn’t recall the events of the day, Lex too has a special relationship with Comer, his mom said.
“Whenever he sees Casey Comer or nurse Whitney in the hallways, he leaves his line and goes to hug them,” Dunaway said. “He knows there’s something about those individuals that has had an impact. He may just not know how to describe it.”
Comer said she shares the connection with Lex.
“It’s just a bond like I’ve never felt before to someone that I never want to do again,” Comer explained. “But at the same time, I’m so thankful for the timing and everything that happened.”
