Brother Saves Life of Paralyzed Diver
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FRESNO — Friends told Gary Tripp to give up when his efforts to revive his brother from a diving accident seemed to be in vain, but Tripp kept at it until he finally noticed his brother’s eyelids flickering.
Brian Tripp, 21, broke his neck last weekend diving onto a sand bar at Millerton Lake, in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Fresno. He was pulled from the water with blue skin, purple lips and gray eyes.
“I remember some people saying, ‘He’s dead. He’s gone. Get back,’ ” Brian Tripp said from his hospital bed in Valley Medical Center. But he apparently was suffering from near-drowning syndrome, in which the chilly water had slowed his circulation almost to a stop.
His brother Gary, 23, worked on him until medical help arrived.
Brian Tripp now is paralyzed from the neck down; his prognosis is uncertain.
“I told Brian, ‘If you don’t walk again, that’s all right. I’ll take care of you,’ ” his brother said.
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