Coralville teen to be honored by governor

CEDAR RAPIDS - Panic lasted only a moment for 12-year-old Ryan Ruden on Jan. 11, 2009, before his head cleared and he knew what he needed to do to save his mother's life.

Bent over Bridgid Ruden, after she suffered a grand mal seizure and a bloody fall in the family's Coralville home, Ryan called 911, turned his mother on her side and held her nose and mouth open “so she wouldn't have to breathe through the blood.”

“Then I just waited with her,” Ryan said Tuesday about the actions he took to save his mother's life two years ago. “The officer was really impressed with how I did that. But I was just trying to rush and find a way.”

Coralville police officer Brian DeBoer was so impressed with the “quick and calm actions” Ryan took to keep his mother from suffering further injury or death that he nominated the soon-to-be West High School freshman for a Governor's Lifesaving Award.

Ryan is among 26 Iowans who will be honored during the annual Governor's Lifesaving Awards Ceremony at the Iowa State Fair. He's receiving an outstanding service award, which is given to nominees who performed a courageous act in an attempt to save someone's life or rendered an unselfish service during an emergency.

“Ryan saw her collapse and acted calmly and caringly to assist his mother through this medical event,” according to Ryan's nomination.

Ryan, who will start at West High on Thursday, told the Gazette he was the only one in the room with his mother that day when he noticed something was off. She had abruptly stopped talking in the middle of her phone conversation and started staring off into space, Ryan said.

So he hung up the phone for her and tried to cheer her up.

“She looked really sad,” he said. “I know she likes dancing a lot, so I went to turn on some music to get her happy.”

That's when he heard a loud crash in the other room and saw his mother was lying on the ground. She had fallen face forward onto a hardwood floor and broken her nose and cut her chin and mouth.

“There was blood everywhere,” he said.

Ryan said he remembered learning the importance of getting her on her side and clearing her airways in the boy scouts and followed the 911 dispatcher's instructions on how to care for his mom. He's modest about his ability to follow instructions and employ the training he received in the boy scouts, but his mom said she's amazed at her son's maturity under pressure – and thankful.

“I just cry,” Ruden said. “For a 12-year-old boy to do this. Brian DeBoer said never in his life had he seen a 12-year-old do what he did.”

Ruden said the seizure was a result of a traumatic brain injury she suffered while riding her bike on a trail in Coralville in May 2008. She slipped on a patch of mud and landed 30 feet from where she started. She was rushed to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where she underwent two brain surgeries that day.

Ruden said she's had four seizures since January 2009, but she's grateful her son was there to help her through the first one.

“The police just couldn't believe how calm he was,” she said.

Other honorees include Shane Monson and Michael Moorehead, of Clear Lake; Morgan Parthemore, unknown hometown; Amy Kauffman, of Grimes; Karen Kauffman, of Emmettsburg; Tami Knapp, of Urbandale; Terry Wackerbarth, of Spirit Lake; Carl Trask, of Des Moines; John Sellers, of Ankeny; Jordan Oberbreckling, of Wyoming; Emily Kleinmeyer, of Iowa City; Eric Brown, of Polk City; Brad Butler, of Ankeny; Steve Tomlinson, of Cambridge; Rick Tomlinson, of Berwick; Juanita Gensley-Bader, of Iowa City; Robert "Bob" Davisson, of Bouton; James Wenndt, of Lacona; James Kluesner, of Dubuque; John Knapp, of Urbandale; Courtney Rogers, of Marion; Kaitlin Mitchell, of Center Point; Ann Mathies, of Prole; Mark Miller, of West Des Moines; and Bobby Heriford, of Centerville.