A school class he did not want to take, and an early Friday release, turned into a life-saving chain of events for a suburban teenager and his dad.
The Mollenhauer family of Palatine told NBC Chicago on Thursday that a series of coincidences allowed Ethan Mollenhauer, a ninth grader, to save his father’s life on April 17.
Ethan said he heard a fall and found his father lying on his stomach by his bed. He called 911, then followed the dispatcher’s instructions.
The dispatcher told Ethan to flip his father over and start CPR after Ethan said he knew how.
Ethan told NBC Chicago he had learned CPR just weeks earlier in one of his classes at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, a class he said he did not even want to take.
“It was my third choice,” Ethan told NBC Chicago.
He also said he was home when his father collapsed because his school has early release on Fridays.
Ethan said he performed CPR on his father for about five minutes, though to him it felt like only 15 to 30 seconds.
His father, Rolling Meadows police commander Sam Mollenhauer, told NBC Chicago he is “so proud of him.”
“I am so prideful,” Commander Sam Mollenhauer said. “Best kid in the world and so super smart.”
Read more from NBC 5.
