HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — An off-duty Petersburg firefighter is being credited with saving a woman's life by using his own son's EpiPen to treat a severe allergic reaction at a Glen Allen park.
Capt. Cody Edlin was enjoying an unplanned Sunday afternoon visit to Crump Park with his 7-year-old son when he noticed a commotion at a nearby pavilion.
"While we were playing on the playground, I don't know if it was family, they had a gathering at the pavilion right there at the playground," Edlin said.
The veteran Petersburg fire captain quickly realized something was wrong.
"I heard a bunch of commotion while I was over there by the slides," Edlin recalled. "I saw her friends really in panic."
At first, Edlin thought someone was choking. So he made his way to the pavilion to offer help.
"I heard her friends say she has an allergy and she doesn't have her EpiPen," Edlin said.
As the father of a child with a peanut allergy, Edlin immediately understood the danger.
Looking at the young woman, Edlin could see she was in serious distress.
"She was having severe difficulty breathing," he said.
Without hesitation, the fire captain sprinted to his car to grab his son's EpiPen.
"So I stuck her with the EpiPen and I held it there for about a minute," Edlin said. "It wasn't probably but 10 seconds, to maybe 20 seconds, she was instant relief, she started talking again, she started talking again."
The experienced first responder was surprised by how quickly she recovered.
"I've been doing this 13 years. I've never had to give anybody any type of epinephrine," Edlin said.
While his firefighter training was valuable, Edlin says he was in "full daddy mode" during the incident. He admits there are times when his family has forgotten their EpiPen at home.
"If my son was having the same thing going on, I would want somebody to help me out," he said.
Edlin credits the young woman's friends for understanding what was happening and immediately calling for help.
"I don't know what the outcome could have been, I don't think it would have been good," he said.
With his son watching, Edlin used the incident as a teaching moment.
"I explained to him that was his EpiPen I used on this lady having a severe allergic reaction that you could possibly have with peanuts," he said.
Edlin says he doesn't consider himself a hero for doing what was right.
A Henrico Fire ambulance arrived shortly after the incident to assess the young woman.
"I'm glad I was at the right place at the right time to provide her the EpiPen. I did what I hope somebody else would do for someone else, a stranger," Edlin said. "Hero is not the word, I just happened to be there."
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