Quick save on the block: Teen rescues woman who needed medical attention

It was a tearful reunion last week when Kathleen Evans met the 13-year-old Kent boy who saved her life.

The 76-year-old woman said she wouldn’t be alive if Bruce Galvizo hadn’t come to her rescue after a medical emergency on June 16.

Evans was alone house sitting at her brother and sister-in-law’s Kent home when she became ill from an E.coli infection.

Unable to sit or stand without passing out, Evans could not reach the phone to call for help. It took Evans more than five hours to scoot her way across the house to the front door.

“I knew I was going to die if didn’t get out that front door,” Evans said.

Once she made it to the front of the house, opening the door was another struggle.

“I had just prayed to God to help me open this door because I couldn’t sit up to open the door,” she said. “My hand fell on the door (handle) and the door opened.”

Evans scooted herself on to the front porch and began calling out for help.

At the same time, Galvizo, who lives around the block from the house, was riding his scooter down the street on his way to meet up with some friends.

“I just heard ‘help, help,'” he said. “I just see her on the ground and came to see if she is OK and ask if I could help her.”

Galvizo called 911 and stayed with Evans until first responders arrived and loaded her into an ambulance.

“The doctor told me when I got to the hospital I was almost dead, so he saved my life,” Evans said.

She spent a week at Valley Medical Center in Renton and another two weeks in a rehabilitation facility. She is staying with her brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Judy Hurt, while she recovers, which doctors said could take about four months.

Meeting her angel

Evans didn’t know the young person who had saved her but knew she wanted to meet him. Judy Hurt made signs looking for the boy who helped Evans and plastered them in the neighborhood on the evening of Aug. 3. Galvizo’s older sister saw the poster and knew it was her brother. The next afternoon, Galvizo’s mother, Oliva, called the Hurts and told them her son was the boy they were looking for. That evening, Olivia and Bruce went to the Hurts house to meet Evans.

Evans greeted her lifesaver with a big hug and heartfelt thanks.

“I am just so grateful that he was there I felt like God put him there.” she said. “I felt like he was my angel.”

She wasn’t surprised Galvizo contacted her so quickly.

“I knew once the information got in the neighborhood I knew I’d find him,” she said. “I am just so happy that we found him. He is a wonderful kid. I knew he would be.”

Bruce Galvizo, who will be a freshman at Kentlake High School, was glad he got to meet Evans.

“I am just happy that she is OK,” he said. “It just kind of makes my day.”

Quiet, humble teen

This wasn’t the first time Galvizo saved a life. A couple of years ago, he gave his friend the Heimlich maneuver.

“My friend was eating something and I made him laugh when he was eating,” Galvizo recalled. “He kind of choked on something.”

Galvizo’s father, Dave, who is in the Coast Guard, taught him the lifesaving skill.

Olivia Galvizo said she is proud of her son for coming to Evans’ aid.

“He is so quiet” she said. “He was humble. He didn’t come in and (say) ‘Oh, I did this.'”

Evans said she hopes to stay in touch with Galvizo.

“I am not a social person, but this is deep with him,” she said. “I think I’ll want to know, if I am alive, that he is graduating high school. I think I am going to want to know that he still lives in the neighborhood and I can say hi or talk to him. I hope he would like just to continue being friends with me.”

She urged her new companion to keep tabs on her.

“Pay attention if you go by here. Make sure I’m not lying here from now on,” Evans joked with Galvizo. “If I am, stop and help me.”

PHOTO BELOW:

Kathleen Evans and 13-year-old Bruce Galvizo embrace during an emotional reunion. Heidi Sanders, Kent Reporter