When Isabella Taleski did water safety at school, she never guessed she’d soon get to use what she’d learnt. She tells Katherine Chatfield what happened.
Stefan Taleski shrieks with delight as he chases big sister Isabella across the park. As his screams dissolve into giggles, it’s hard to imagine that just a few weeks ago his life hung in the balance.
The bubbly four-year old nearly drowned in a friend’s swimming pool – and it’s all down to Isabella’s quick thinking and bravery that he’s here today.
As the siblings splashed around in a friend’s pool with about 20 other children, 12-year-old Isabella was the first to notice her brother was in trouble.
She screamed for help, and when he was pulled out of the water, she kept him in the recovery position until the ambulance came.
“Paramedics said that her quick actions saved Stefan’s life,” says proud mum Liliana. “It might have only taken us another minute to notice he was in trouble, but that minute could have meant the difference between him living or drowning.”
The near-fatal incident took place while the Taleskis were enjoying a barbecue at a friend’s house in Abbotsbury, in Sydney’s west, along with about 40 other people.
“There were adults in the pool watching the kids,” says Liliana. “I was looking out for [my other son] Jovan, who was doing cannon balls at the other end of the pool.”
But despite the watchful adults in and around the pool, somehow among the splashing children, music and fun, a struggling Stefan managed to go unnoticed – until Isabella spotted him in the nick of time.
“Stefan was playing in the shallow end,” Isabella says. “Some of the older kids were watching him, so I went inside to get something to eat. When I came back, I could see him in the water. He looked like he was sinking. He was bobbing up and down and his hands were splashing around and he was trying to dog paddle. His mouth and most of his nose were under water.”
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