Mother Grateful To 19 Year Old Who Saved Daughter At Lake Oologah

Thursday, a 19 year old received a lifesaving award for bringing a 7-year-old girl back to life using CPR.

The young girl was drowning in Lake Oologah when he came to her rescue.

Vernise Bustos feels incredibly lucky her 7-year-old daughter, Betty, is alive today after going underneath the water while swimming and nearly drowned.

"We were just here to have fun. I was in the water with them, we were having fun," Bustos said.

But fun quickly changed to terror.

“All of a sudden, I noticed Betty was gone. It was a blink of an eye and she was gone,” Bustos said. “Panic mode went in. I started running.”

Bustos started screaming for help, and Betty was found, lifeless, a few feet under water.

"I just collapsed on the floor and starting yelling, ‘Please don't leave me! Please, how can you leave me?’ She was brought out without life, she was blue," she said.

That’s when a 19 year old who learned CPR in a high school class started doing compressions.

5/23/2016 Related Story: Bystander Saves Girl From Drowning At Oologah Lake

After a minute and a half, Betty started breathing and spitting up water.

"If it wasn't for him, my daughter wouldn't be here," Bustos said.

The Army Corp of Engineers gave the teen an award and surprised Betty and her siblings with life jackets.

If you don't have a life jacket of your own, there are a dozen kept near the shore of Oologah Lake.