Despite having been unable to save his son's life in his first practical application of CPR techniques which he had acquired at the son's urging, a volunteer firefighter yesterday said that he would not be discouraged from trying to help people in trouble.
"My son said he was proud of what I did," said the 47-year-old Wu Hsiu-chin (巫秀欽), who had joined the volunteer firefighting team in November last year after his second son, Wu Meng-hua (巫孟樺), encouraged him to do so.
"Now that he's gone, I will continue to do what made him proud," he said.
PHOTO: SHEN CHI-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The 16-year-old Wu Meng-hua was involved in a car accident on Sunday night. He was riding on a scooter, with his cousin on the rear seat, when they were hit by a Honda Accord driven by 28-year-old Lin Chia-wen (林佳雯) in Lungtan Township (龍潭), Taoyuan County.
Wu Meng-hua and his cousin were flung some 40m from the scooter.
Wu Hsiu-chin, who was paged to the scene, did not recognize his son, who was seriously injured and whose face had been badly disfigured and covered with blood.
Although Wu Meng-hua showed no sign of a pulse, Wu Hsiu-chin continued to perform CPR on him, but to no avail.
Wu Hsiu-chin had just recently received his CPR certificate and that night was the first time he had performed CPR on a patient.
His co-worker said that he kept repeating the CPR procedure, but the young victim remained unresponsive.
"When we arrived at the hospital, my wife called me and told me my son had been in a car accident. Then I noticed the shoes of the victim I had just tried to save ... They were my son's favorite sneakers," Wu Hsiu-chin said.
He said he was heartbroken, but added that the loss would only inspire him to continue with his volunteer work.
Wu Meng-chin's cousin was also badly injured, but was in stable condition after being hospitalized.
Lin later told the police that she hit the scooter from behind while trying to overtake another car.
She was too scared to stop at the scene, she said.
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