Aided Elderly Victim : A Couple of Teen-Agers Who Cared

By late Friday, it still was too early to tell whether the efforts of two youths to help an elderly heart attack victim were effective, but at least the 17-year-olds had cared enough to try.

Andy Ho-Sing-Loy said he and his friend, Titan Leard, both juniors at Mission Viejo High School, were driving on Marguerite Parkway near La Sierra Drive Thursday afternoon when they saw a man’s legs sticking out the open door of a parked car.

“We decided something was wrong, so we stopped to see if we could help,” Andy said.

They found Paul Steed, 74, sprawled on the front seat while his wife, Evelyn, was trying to revive him with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Steed had collapsed after changing a tire.

Removed Him From Car

“Andy stopped our car, and while he parked it, I ran over and took the man out of the car and laid him on the sidewalk, because the seat was too soft for chest compression to work,” Titan said.

Both youths, who had studied CPR, worked on Steed with the help of a passing Postal Service employee and a lifeguard from a nearby swimming pool. County Fire Department paramedics arrived a few minutes later, and Steed was taken to Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo.

“One of the medics told us we really did a good job, that we were a lot of help,” Titan said.

And they didn’t stop caring after their work at the scene, according to Rita Herron, a friend of the Steed family.

“Those kids went to the hospital and held Mr. Steed’s hand and tried to talk to him,” Herron said. “They stayed there until 11 o’clock Thursday night, and one of them, Andy, went back the next morning.

“After all the things you read about teen-agers--well, these are two beautiful boys.”

Evelyn Steed said late Friday that doctors reported her husband’s condition as critical.

“He’s in intensive care, unconscious,” she said. “It’s still uncertain whether anything that was done will make a difference.

“But those two boys, they certainly tried to help. I have nothing but praise for them. Their parents should be very proud of them.”