Girl honored for saving her dad

Quick thinking and prior practice helped a local girl make the call that saved her dad's life.

Now, because of her heroism, nine-year-old Breanna Guinn is the proud owner of a shiny new medal presented to her by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and a separate award given by Rural/Metro.

Breanna received a "Challenge Coin" from YCSO and the "Good Samaritan Award" from Rural/Metro during a ceremony Thursday afternoon in the cafeteria at McGraw Elementary School, where she is a student.

The entire ordeal began on Aug. 16 during a family outing.

There was nothing out of the ordinary when Bruce "Danny" Guinn took his two young daughters to the Colorado River for a day of splashing and fun in the sun. But during the day, Bruce, a diabetic, suddenly succumbed to extremely low blood sugar and collapsed unconsciously into the river.

"I was laying in the river letting the girls play and that is all I remember," Bruce said. "The next thing I know I am strapped up and cannot move and I'm seeing all these strange faces and I was freaking out. This is the worst seizure I have ever had and I don't remember anything. My daughter saved my life. She is my hero."

As Bruce slowly floated away, little Breanna immediately took action.

"He was playing with us and then he started relaxing," Breanna said. "That's when he started shaking and making noises like (grunting and gasping) and he floated off. I got my little sister out of the water, then I got my dad's cell phone and called 911 and the (dispatcher) helped calm me down. Then the airboat came."

That dispatcher was Brandy McCleaf, who works for Rural/Metro.

"She gave us all the information we needed to help find her dad," McCleaf said. "She knew full names and every question we asked she knew the answers too. She did sound scared, but she was calm enough to give us the information we needed. She was a lot more calm than a lot of the adults that I speak to."

According to Sheriff's Sgt. Russell Russom, who was on patrol at the time, the information Breanna gave was an essential clue in finding Bruce's exact location.

"I don't think everyone truly understands the complexity of what she had to go through," Russom said.

"Just saying 'I'm at the river with my dad' is not good enough for us. We have so many miles and miles of river but she had the location pinned down. She was within half a mile of where she said she was. Otherwise I would have had units searching up and down 25 miles of river trying to find them."

Russom said deputies were placed about every quarter of a mile until Bruce was found.

"When our unit found him he was unconscious and rolling with the currents of the river. He would not have made it any further and if that unit hadn't of made it, we would have had a different situation altogether. The girl did perfectly."

Breanna said her father had prepared her for just such an emergency.

"My dad has rehearsed with me about 9-1-1 and I have done it before. This is the second time I've helped him."

According to YCSO, Sheriff's Cpl. Phil Spongross and Deputy Mike Kofta were patrolling the river on the department airboat at about 4:30 p.m. when they received the call. The deputies found Bruce floating face down, pulled him onto the boat and brought him to a location on shore where a Rural/Metro ambulance could pick him up.

According to Bruce, it was the presence of his dog that alerted the deputies to his position.

"My dog Missie stayed with me the entire time, and she is just a puppy," Bruce said. "The riverboat went looking for me and decided to check on the dog. When they were getting the dog they found me in the tullees."

According to Rural/Metro, the Good Samaritan Award is given only when a great deed is done, and this is the first time the award of that magnitude has ever been given to a child.

According to YCSO the Challenge Coin is usually reserved for law enforcement personnel. YCSO said they took the occasion to place the shiny gold coin on a necklace so Breanna can wear it around her neck.

"The sheriff has (the award) which is given to a deputy when they do something that is beyond the normal call of duty," said Russom. "It is a motivational tool, and typically they are only given to the law enforcement officers, so I requested the award be presented to the girl for her actions."