Springfield man's actions saved drowning victim's organs

by the Independence Examiner

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Springfield man's actions saved drowning victim's organs

Renee Krato drowned in a motel swimming pool on Saturday night. (photo from Independence Examiner)

By Gene Hartley

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- If any good came from the drowning of a teenage girl on Saturday in a motel swimming pool, it may be found in the actions of Marc Langiano of Springfield and several others.

Renee Krato, 16, of Florissant died at Children's Mercy Hospital. She drowned in a pool at the Motel 6 on Noland Road.

Her organs will be donated, said a family member on Monday evening, who didn't want to be identified. Krato was taken off life support, the person said. Those organs are fresh because of Langiano's actions in bringing Krato back to life.

Langiano, 45, had an appointment at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Kansas City. The 10-year U.S. Army veteran served as a flight paramedic; he regularly flew on Blackhawk helicopters.

Langiano suffered a lung injury while doing an in-flight training exercise. More lung complications followed, resulting in him losing part of his right lung.

He was set for the drive back to Springfield on Saturday. The problem was his car. The tire kept going flat and needed to be replaced. The repair shop didn't have the right size tire and it couldn't get to it until later that night.

Langiano decided to stay the night at the Motel 6 and drive back on Sunday. Around 9 p.m., he suddenly heard a girl screaming for help. He ran outside toward noise at the motel's pool.

"This blond female was running toward me saying someone's dead in the pool," Langiano said.

He rushed to the pool and saw it for himself: a young girl floating face down. Krato was floating in the shallow area of the pool near the edge.

Langiano used the pool's steps to enter the water that came only to his knees. He scooped her up and out of the water and placed her on her back.

Krato had no pulse and wasn't breathing. Langiano started CPR as a crowd gathered at the pool. One man in the crowd stepped in to help. He is an operating room technician.

"I directed him to do mouth-to-mouth while I did chest compressions," Langiano said.

Langiano then started picking people from the crowd to help. He told someone to make sure 911 was called; he asked another to find management to see if they had emergency tools like a defibrillator or bag valve mask.

"They (motel) didn't have any of that, so it was just basic CPR," he said.

Some in the crowd were screaming. Some just stood frozen, mesmerized about what they were watching.

Langiano kept pressing on her chest. After his military service, he worked as a paramedic in Springfield and St. Louis for years. His experience in similar situations kicked in.

"It's like riding a bike. You never forget."

Paramedics arrived. They told Langiano that she had a pulse.

"At one point, she was trying to breath on her own," he said.

When they loaded her in the ambulance, Langiano wondered how long Krato had been submerged in the water, how long her brain had been deprived of oxygen.

"That concerned me," he said.

Langiano heard from Krato's family that her liver will be donated to a teenage girl who needs one.

Independence police determined the drowning was accidental but they don't know why she drowned.

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