Kansas 9-Year-Old's Brave 911 Call May Have Saved Grandfather's Life
Isabelle Soubie, 9, dialed emergency services when granddad was unresponsive.
— -- Isabelle Soubie made a 911 call that just may have saved her grandfather's life.
Now, two months later, the 9-year-old Kansan is being honored as a hometown hero for her courage and quick thinking under pressure.
"I was shocked," her grandfather, Bob Sobczak, told ABC News today. "I always thought she was smart, but was shocked at her self-control and by the total event, not just what she needed to do. She was aware what was going on.”
Sobczak of Overland Park, Kansas, said it was the morning of June 14 when granddaughter Isabelle witnessed him go into diabetic shock after she and her 18-month-old brother had spent the night.
When he was unresponsive, Sobczak said, Isabelle reached for his cellphone to call her mother. But because he had a lock on the device, the girl was only able to dial emergency services.
His daughter, who’s Isabelle’s mom, Julie Soubie, said, "She's seen me help my dad before, but obviously not at the point where he was passed out and unresponsive. She's heard me say, 'Hey dad, check your sugar; you might need to eat something.' So, she knew. She knew his sugar was getting low, but at this point it was too late.
"I was a little surprised at the tidbits of the 911 call that I've heard," she added. "You could tell that she was nervous and scared in the call, but I'm just amazed at how calm and responsible she was. … "I couldn’t be more proud."
Ryan Konzem, who was the paramedic on duty that day, said he arrived to the scene minutes after Isabelle's call came in.
"She was standing at the front door to let us in," he said. "She told us her grandfather was a diabetic. She tried to get him to check his blood sugar and he wasn't cooperating so she called 911, at which point he was unresponsive.
"After we got the IV started and the glucose on board he came around in just a couple of minutes."
As for Sobczak, he said he will never forget what his granddaughter did for him.
"It's very possible that she saved my life," he said. "We don’t know that for sure, but it’s very possible. So, how could I not be grateful for that?"
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