Barry Rosenberg, of Clive, has a very good reason to say that about Ashley (Hanrahan) Sunderman, a Fort Dodge native who now lives in Des Moines.

She helped save his 5-year-old son, Bauer Rosenberg, from drowning last week at a party in Waukee.

On July 2, the Rosenbergs arrived at the party for their oldest son’s baseball team. The party was being held at a teammate’s house to help celebrate the end of the season.

Barry Rosenberg said his wife, Jenna Rosenberg, was helping put sunscreen on their children, who wanted to play in the pool that day, as well as helping to arrange other items for the party, including juice boxes.

At one point, Rosenberg said someone asked, “Where’s Bauer?” and then seconds later, someone else asked, “What’s that in the pool?”

A black shape was in the pool, which Rosenberg said his wife immediately recognized as Bauer’s shirt.

At that same moment, Sunderman and her family were arriving at the party.

Sunderman’s son plays on the same baseball team as the Rosenbergs.

She said she also heard someone ask what the black object in the pool was.

“Naturally, I started to scan the water to see what it was,” she said. “And I was also looking at the children to see if anybody was drowning.”

That’s when Sunderman heard Jenna Rosenberg yell, “That’s Bauer!”

Rosenberg jumped into the pool after her son, with her husband jumping in just behind her.

Sunderman said she didn’t even think about what happened next.

She ran to the side of the pool and helped pull Bauer Rosenberg out.

Then, using her training as a pediatric nurse at MercyOne Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, she immediately started performing CPR on the child.

“I didn’t even think,” Sunderman said. “I just literally reacted.”

With the help of Jenna Rosenberg, who was performing mouth-to-mouth, Sunderman began doing chest compressions to try and get the boy breathing again.

Barry Rosenberg pulled out his phone.

“I hopped out to try to call 911,” he said. “But I couldn’t get to my phone.”

Because he was wet from being in the pool, it was impossible for him to dial the numbers. Fortunately, someone else at the party was able to call for an ambulance.

Sunderman said Bauer Rosenberg had no pulse and was a shade of blue that she had never seen before on a patient — his color was so blue, it was almost black.

“I don’t know how many rounds I did,” Sunderman said about her performing CPR. “A couple rounds, I believe, and then he started to foam at the mouth and vomit.”

After he threw up, Sunderman still couldn’t find a pulse. That’s when the baseball coach, who happens to be a firefighter, ran down to help as well.

Working together, they continued working on the 5-year-old. After throwing up again, Sunderman turned Rosenberg on his back and while the coach performed mouth-to-mouth, Sunderman handled chest compressions.

“I believe we did a couple rounds,” he said. “He started to vomit, so we rolled him on his side again. I rubbed his back and said, ‘Come on, buddy. You got this. You got this.'”

Just then, Sunderman said the boy’s eyes shot open.

He looked up at his rescuers and gave a deep breath before throwing up again.

Once he was conscious, Sunderman said she handed the boy to his mother.

That’s when the ambulance arrived at the home.

Barry Rosenberg said it seemed like an eternity, but it was probably only about 30 seconds.

“He starts spitting up water and coming to and he took a huge gasp,” Rosenberg said. “He said, ‘I don’t want to swim anymore,’ and he started crying.”

He carried his son to the ambulance as others at the party briefed the rescuers on what had happened.

Sunderman stayed back and watched.

“I never talked to the first responders,” she said. “I went back to the pool to check on my own kids,” who had been with her husband during the rescue.

Bauer Rosenberg ended up being taken to the same hospital where Sunderman works.

When she started her shift the next day, she stopped in his room to check on him and his parents.

“He was playing, and I went over to him and got down on his level,” she said. “I asked if he knew who I was and he said, ‘No.’ I told him, ‘Hi, bud. My name’s Ashley.'”

Bauer Rosenberg was discharged from the hospital the day after the near-drowning, July 3.

And according to his father, he’s back to being a normal 5-year-old.

“I would say he’s 100%,” Barry Rosenberg said. “He’s out playing. We’re actually out on a walk right now. Even the next morning, you’d never have known.”

Rosenberg said the doctors were amazed at how quickly his son recovered, with some saying they couldn’t believe it.

“He’s jumping off the bed, dancing, watching shows,” his dad said. “The same old Bauer.”

And he said Sunderman was the one who helped save his son’s life.

“We’re really blessed and very thankful for Ashley being there,” he said.

Working with the boy outside of a hospital setting was challenging.

“I’m used to code situations in the hospital, in a controlled environment,” she said. “But being out in the community, where I have no medication, no backup.”

All she had was herself and her training.

But she added that she didn’t even think once about what was going on and immediately went into nurse mode.

“My experience as a nurse is just being in those stressful situations,” Sunderman said. “Stay focused and calm, and try to keep the environment around you calm and in an organized manner. I feel like that’s what we did.”

Even though it was less than a week ago, Sunderman can’t tell you what was going on outside of her trying to resuscitate Rosenberg.

“I have no idea if there was screaming, yelling,” she said. “I was just focused on him and what I needed to do to get him to breathe.”

While the Sunderman and Rosenberg families knew each other before the incident, as their sons are teammates, they really only knew each other casually.

Not anymore, Barry Rosenberg said.

“We’ll definitely be staying connected,” he said. “Obviously everything was perfect at the right time and it ended up the right way.”

Sunderman agreed.

“I hope to be in contact with the family for a long time, because this little boy definitely has a piece of my heart.”

Pool safety tips

Ashley Sunderman said it’s important to be aware of your surroundings whenever you’re around a pool. Even if people are trained swimmers, it’s a good idea to remind yourself on pool safety.

“It can happen so fast, and it’s silent,” she said. “You don’t hear the splashing, you don’t hear the screaming. You don’t hear or see anything. It’s silent.”

Parents should also talk to their children about being safe around the pool, especially when it comes to the deep end of a pool versus the shallow end.

“Have that conversation,” Sunderman said. “It’s a good, crucial conversation on the depth of the pool. And make sure everyone’s educated on what to do and where to go.”

About Sunderman

Ashley Sunderman was born and raised in Fort Dodge, graduating from Fort Dodge Senior High in 1998.

“I cheered all four years of high school,” she said. “And then I went to Iowa Central (Community College) for one year, and that’s when I transferred and moved to the Omaha area.”

She spent three years working as a sign language interpreter for the Omaha public school system before moving to Des Moines and graduating from nursing school at Mercy College.

Sunderman said she immediately began working at MercyOne Children’s Hospital, and has been there for almost 15 years.

“My family still lives in Fort Dodge, so I go back every once in awhile to see family,” she said. “And I have two brothers that live there and I have an older sister from there as well.”

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