Landscaper Recounts Effort to Save Windham Toddler's Life

Nashua resident Matthew Pulomena was ready to take action when he heard a mother screaming for help next door.

Working a landscaping job on Sharon Road at the time, the 24-year-old looked up to see the woman with her 3-year-old son's body over her shoulder, crouched next to her family pool.

She had just pulled the boy out of the water.

"I just took off and hopped the fence and ran next door and hopped up on their deck. There he was just laying there, and I felt for a pulse and there was no pulse and he wasn't breathing."

Two years as a live-in at the Belmont Fire Department taught Pulomena what to do next.

He began to administer CPR compressions, and he was five or six in when the boy began coughing up water. Two compressions more and the boy was breathing.

"It was pretty incredible." Pulomena said. "Just to see him be able to breathe again was just awesome, like a relief, that he was still here with us."

Pulomena wasn't able to speak with the mother, although he said she was very thankful.

Crew members from Design Works Landscaping, including Pulomena, have been working on the neighboring property since last week.

Before he was landscaping, Pulomena went to school at Lakes Region Community College. The Belmont Fire Department takes students at the school under their wing for the two years they attend the college.

Pulomena said that he still has aspirations of becoming a full-time firefighter, and perhaps one day a paramedic with the proper certification.

His co-workers called his heroics "incredible," saying that he almost immediately ran over to the boy's aid.

Windham Fire responded to 6 Sharon Road just after 11:15 a.m. and took over for Pulomena. Fire Chief Tom McPherson reported that the boy was breathing but unresponsive in the ambulance.

The toddler was first transported to Parkland Medical Center in Derry before being transferred to Elliot Hospital in Manchester for further care and treatement.