COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A local family is mourning a high school freshman who collapsed during a Boy Scout lock-in and later died. The teen's parents told Channel 2 Action News other Scouts tried to save their son.
The incident happened last week at Marietta First Baptist Church.
Clint and Margaret Fletcher, the parents of 15-year-old Vaughn Fletcher, told Channel 2 Cobb County bureau chief Chris Jose the other Boy Scouts in his troop jumped in, performed CPR and called 911 to help their son.
The parents said other Scouts spread out and stationed themselves at all the different doors to help paramedics get in.
"Boy Scout Troop 144 are heroes, every single one of them," Clint Fletcher said, fighting back tears. "It’s gonna be really hard, gonna be really hard for a while."
The Fletchers said Vaughn was born with a heart condition. He had three heart surgeries -- the first as a newborn and the other as a toddler.
He had his third surgery before the school year started this year. Overall, the Fletchers said, Vaughn was in good health.
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"I really thought he was going to pull through. Even though the odds were against him, he was a fighter and he was lucky," Margaret Fletcher said.
The Fletchers said it was around 2 a.m. on Dec. 9 when some of Vaughn's friends noticed he was ill.
"The boys sprang into action immediately, started giving him chest compressions. The church had just installed an AED (automated external defibrillator) a few months before," Clint Fletcher said.
Vaughn's brother was there, too. He called 911.
"They didn't hesitate, even though it was their friend. They just jumped right in and, yes, they gave us the chance to have five days to say goodbye to him," Margaret Fletcher said.
The Fletchers said they're so thankful for those five days.
They said Vaughn wanted to be a veterinarian and an entrepreneur who gave back to others.
"I don't think any parent can say goodbye to any child and have it not be gut-wrenching," Clint Fletcher said.
Vaughn's celebration of life was held on Sunday. His parents said they had no idea he had touched so many lives.
Cox Media Group
