Student helps save a classmate's life

WESTMINSTER - On Monday afternoon, when most people were planning what they were going to have for lunch, a class at Standley Lake High School was faced with a bigger question when a student fell to the floor and stopped breathing.

"For a second I thought we'd just lost her because she wasn't breathing," said student Katie Baumann.

When some students froze, Cameron Durand did what came natural.

As a lifeguard over the summer, Durand learned CPR and reacted when his classmate, Lindsay Hayden, stopped breathing.

"It was instinct. I saw she wasn't breathing and I knew what I had to do instantly," he said.

Durand performed CPR until the school resource officer Dan Mayer was able to get an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to shock Hayden's heart.

The defibrillator was donated to the school last year by the Dan Lunger Foundation. Lunger was a student at the school and died suddenly in 2006. Doctors believed a defibrillator could have saved him. Most schools don't have them because of cost.

Some students called Durand a hero for what he did, but he credits the defibrillator for saving his classmate's life.

"I think the big message that needs to get out is every school needs one of those. Lindsay wouldn't have been here if we wouldn't have had that," said Durand.

Doctors at The Children's Hospital are still trying to figure out what caused Hayden to stop breathing. Lindsay's mom, Lori Hayden, told 9NEWS on Tuesday her daughter is alert and they are thankful for everyone's quick thinking and action.

Lindsay's father, Darren Hayden, e-mailed 9NEWS Wednesday saying, "We are indeed fortunate and extremely proud of Cameron's efforts and the efforts of our school's Resource Office, Dan Mayer, who used the AED to resuscitate Lindsay."

Tuesday, her class made cards to send to her as she recovers.