EMPOWER TO THE PEOPLE
AFTER HER DAUGHTER ALMOST DROWNED, FARLEY BOYLE MADE IT HER MISSION TO GIVE
EVERYONE THE ABILITY TO SAVE A CHILD'S LIFE

THE CAUSE
“People usually wonder: Why did you start this organization? What happened?,” says Farley Boyle, a devoted mother of
three, model and suburban housewife. When the team at TFG heard the 'why' and the 'what' behind Boyle's impassioned
endeavor, C.H.A.S.E. (CPR, Heimlich and Safety Awareness Education) for Life, we knew we had to make it our first
Charity of the Month. 

The answer to “why” is simple and terrifying: her young daughter, Chase, had a  near death experience.  In Farley’s own
words, the answer to “what happened” goes like this:

The day after I got home from the hospital (after giving birth to her third daughter, Abigail), my husband was trying to get the girls out of the house, so I could have some peace and quiet. Chase, two year and three months old, was actually up in my room, saying goodbye to me and to the baby. I just had this five minute session with her that was really precious. And then she looked out the window from the bedroom and said, 'Oh, no Mommy! They're leaving me. They're gonna leave.' I said, 'No, honey, they're just getting the stuff on the boat.' To which Chase said, 'I have to be with them. I have to be with them.” And just like that, she left me.

She went downstairs, my mom let her out the sliding glass doors and she ran over toward the dock. My husband met her half way. They had all just gone to the tackle shop where both girls had been given new nets. My husband and father were tying on the fishing line so that girls could net little jelly fish and other things—and they were a little bit preoccupied. When my husband, Patrick, saw Chase getting into the tackle box, he put her on the boat, out of harm's way; he was worried that she'd prick her finger on one of the hooks.

Then he turned around and went back to tying the anchor line, but Chase wanted to be doing what her big sister, Mackenzie, was doing—which is no shocker. She let herself off the boat backwards, and fell in, feet first in between the dock and the boat—a two-foot space, blackish water, zero visibility. Mackenzie not only processed it, but she said 'Daddy, Chase is in the water and she's not swimming.' That was the first miracle. The second miracle was that my father was five feet from her, saw her white tee-shirt and saw her hand and pulled her up. My husband then hoisted her out of the water. She was completely blue and catatonic. Her eyes were lifeless and she was convulsing. According to the experts at the hospital, she was only under water for 45 seconds. It just goes to show you how it takes absolutely no time—I mean it was within six minutes of her leaving my room that this happened—a life can be taken from you.

Just before the crisis happened, my baby sitter, Kimberly, who was watching the girls from the sliding glass, had lost her visual of Chase. So she yells out, “Hey, where's Chase?” To which my husband answers back, ' Oh, she's on the boat.' When I heard that exchange, I wondered why she had to ask where Chase was. I thought that was just weird. So I sat up in bed and looked outside and that's when I saw the panic hitting the dock. I ran down there within two seconds. When I got down there and I saw the chaos, luckily, I told my mom and Kimberly to call 911. My girlfriend, who had just shown up to see Abigail, began consoling Mackenzie and I immediately dropped to my knees in prayer. My father was in shock. Patrick was heroic. He administered CPR and Heimlich. He kept his calm. He's an avid surfer and was a lifeguard for eight years, so he knew what to do. It took three rounds of compression and breathes for her to come back. And the whole time he was saying, 'Breathe Chase, breathe Chase, hang on, hang on, you've gotta come back to us,' hoping that on some level she would hear him and hold on. That is what is so powerful. I was looking at my child, who is, you know, on another planet, and I'm hearing my husband screaming for her while he's doing this maneuver and all I could do was drop to me knees and pray—begging that God would not take my child.

I think that called in the angels because she had these lifeless eyes and all of a sudden I saw the life come back into them. And as she started saying, 'moooooom,' she started to vomit. At that point, I heard the EMS sirens, and even though I knew that she was back, I was terrified about oxygen deprivation. Then the Little Silver (NJ) EMS squad came rushing over and told me that we all had to keep our calm and focus on processing her short term memory. We have to see if she has her wits about her. This was terrifying. We're all running toward the road. I've got her over my shoulder at a ninety degree angle to drain anything out. Pat was on the phone with 911, who were telling us to put her on her back in the recovery position to help drain any water that might be pooling in her lungs. When we got to the front of the lawn and they put an oxygen mask on her, I knew the situation wasn't bleak anymore—but it was still serious.

When we got in the ambulance, they were asking her for her name and how old she was. But she was just under two and a half, she's not going to be answering coherently when she's vomiting her guts out. The only thing I could think of was to ask her about the new kitten that she just got a few weeks earlier. I thought about how in her mind, she's a mommy just like I am and she's got a little baby at home that she needs to get home to. I said, “What's your baby's name?,” and this little voice says, in between vomiting, 'Sebastian.' That to me said that she's not only back, but she's got her wits about her.

I was inspired at that moment to give back on any level that I could. When we got out of ICU, and the Little Silver EMS squad went above and beyond their call of duty by coming back to the hospital to reassure my parents that Chase was going to be okay.  They told my parents that because their son-in-law effectively removed 80% of the fluids in Chase's body and their daughter kept her cool, Chase was going to be just fine. They added that 'if we had parents that were as educated and empowered as your kids were, the success rate would be phenomenal.' So many times they respond to a call to find a parent holding a lifeless child, waiting for EMS to do something.

 When they said that, I started thinking about how I could make a difference. I had 30 friends come to my house and I gave them a free in-home workshop given by the same EMS  squad that responded to our crisis. Ten days after that event, one of the girls who attended saved her niece in an unconscious choking episode. She told me that she completely knew how to administer the Heimlich because of the workshop. And then, I thought well let's take this to the next level.

THE EFFECT
I decided a non-profit was the way to go. Our mission is to make it mandatory in hospitals for first time mothers to have to take a class or watch an instructional video before leaving and to bring this education to the community so that everyone could be empowered to save a life.

How come we leave a pharmacy with a pill bottle that has a set of instructions yet we leave a hospital with a life with none. We're going to teach people how to handle a crisis until the ambulance arrives. We're going to give you a set of instructions to sustain a life until help can be there to effectively take over.

We're also going to change the face of CPR and Heimlich instruction. We'll educate via a non-invasive workshop at occasions like a baby shower, so you don't have to stress out about the time commitment. You also don't need to worry about doing everything correctly. Doing something is better than doing nothing. If you retain 20% of what you learned, you have an 80% chance of success. Just get educated and you can't go wrong.

We're also going to change the look of the resources available on the market. We're coming out with our own instructional video—that we're raising money for, too. We want to take away the institutional look associated with CPR and Heimlich. We want to give you something you can relate to, something modern, something with universal appeal. And we're not only going to target adults, we want to educate children, too. We want people of all ages to look at our material and understand it. We want it to be a hot topic, and we want people to cultivate their nervous energy and apprehension about it into seeking this education. You don't have to be certified to save your child's life. If you want to further your education, we support it, but we're going to make sure that there's not a loss on any level, in any age group, by supplying everyone with this vital information.

Hospitals will have our videos on a 24-hour loop. They have lactation classes, why shouldn't they have CHASE classes: a non-certification, hour-and-twenty-minute-c lass taught by a certified instructor who will give everyone the basics for survival.  Give each new mother confidence in their abilities. Leaving the hospital with a child is a scary thing. We're going to make them give you the knowledge you need, so that if you walk into a room and your child's not breathing and you give them the breath of life, you have an 80% chance of them coming back.

We have the cure. The cure is education and empowering people with it. We just need the resources to get it out there.

We thank Farley Boyle for sharing her inspiring story with us and for helping us live for today and tomorrow.

C.H.A.S.E. for Life's launch fundraiser is on Saturday, September 9 at Avenue/Le Club in Long Branch, NJ.  Tickets are $375 per couple and $150 stag. Sony will be providing a known recording artist to perform at the cocktail party. The organization will also premiere their first instructional video. With take-charge super mom Farley Boyle giving back in a big way,  it is sure to be the event of life.

For more information, to get involved, to learn more, or to make a donation, go to www.chaseforlife.org.