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ENCORE: Urbandale Mom Calls 4-Year-Old Who Saved Her Life "Extraordinary"

Raine Arnold went into insulin shock on Sept. 29 and woke up to find that her son was a hero. Today, their story is featured nationally.

 

We told you this story earlier in the week. Today, we feature it again as Huffington Post honors Khayden Arnold as The Greatest Person of the Day.

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Khayden Arnold isn't sure whether he will be Spider Man or Death Stroke for Halloween, but he knows he wants to be a superhero because "they save the day."

After the events of last month, Khayden could go as himself.

Lately, his mom has been teaching him a big word about superheroes: she says they are "extraordinary." Extraordinary means they can do something that people normally can't, she tells him.

Raine Arnold has been using that word to describe Khayden ever since the 4-year-old called 911 on Sept. 29. Khayden spent 15 minutes on the phone directing police to his home after mom lost consciousness due to insulin shock.

Compelling 911 Recording: To listen, click on the video.

"I let him know how proud I was that he did everything right," she said. As a person with type 1 diabetes, Raine began teaching her sons, Jordyn, 6, and Khayden, how to dial 911 as soon as they learned to recognize numbers.

"As soon as I knew they were able to operate a phone, I started teaching them on a landline," she said. "I taught them just in case."

Khayden still gets the numbers mixed up sometimes his mom says. "I called 991," he proudly tells a reporter.

Khayden's conversation with the dispatcher captivated the country when the recording was made public by the Urbandale Police Department and Polk County Sheriff's Office. National television news shows wanted to fly the family out for interviews and the hoopla was "purely chaotic" for a few days, Raine said.

That Khayden was able to help Polk County Dispatcher Maggie Brodeur locate them was all the more amazing when Raine notes that she and her sons had just moved to Iowa a week earlier.

On the recording of the call, Brodeur repeatedly tries to get Khayden to tell her his address. Because he had called on his mother's cell phone, Brodeur didn't have his location. At one point, Khayden tells her slowly and distinctly that he is in I-O-W-A.

The family has been staying with friends in Urbandale and Raine said she barely knew the house address after a week. That her preschool son knew they were living in Iowa was pretty amazing, she said.

Raine said she was at home watching Khayden and their friend's 3-year-old daughter. Jordyn was in school. She had been struggling to keep her blood glucose up all morning: It kept plummeting despite the juice she was drinking.
She said the last thing she remembers was calling her friend and asking her to come home.

Doctors later discovered that she had two separate infections going on, which can destabilize blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.

Raine said she is extremely grateful that her son stayed so calm with the dispatcher and stayed on the phone, but she's not surprised that he dialed 911.

In fact, she wants other parents to "definitely just understand that a kid's potential is way higher than you think it would be."

Preschoolers Can Be Taught 911

Shannon Sandahl, a licensed social worker who works with children and adolescents at the Everest Institute in Urbandale, said young children are capable of dialing 911 or following other simple safety rules if parents calmly and consistently reinforce those things with them.

Parents can begin teaching basic safety rules of the house when the child is 2 or 3. Start teaching a child his or her address at ages 3 or 4. Most children will know their address by the time they are 5 or 6. 

Keep it simple and use a lot of repetition, she advised.

Sandahl said the dispatcher deserves credit for keeping Khayden calm on the phone, but she's not surprised that he did not become hysterical.

"At 4, they are pretty concrete thinkers," she said. "I don't think he understood that there was something real serious with mom and she could possibly die. He just knew that mom was not waking up and that was not normal."

Related Topics: Greatest Person and Urbandale boy saves mom
Do you have a similar story? Tell us in the comments.

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B.A. Morelli

9:13 pm on Tuesday, October 25, 2011

This little boy really is a superhero in my book.

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Susan Lossing

8:53 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

Its not insulin shock its hypoglecmia or hypoglcemic unawareness when your blood sugar drops and a person with diabetes doesn't realize it. Having Type 1 Diabetes I am familar with this, I have low blood sugar signs and when they start showing up I know my blood sugar is dropping and I have juice, but for some reason, unknown to the people with diabetes or the medical profession, some times your blood sugar drops and you don't realize it because the signs that let you know your blood sugar is dropping don't show up. I know when it happens to me I don't realize it until my husband or daughter finds me and I come out of the low blood sugar with them holding juice for me and making me drink it. So please, use the correct term!!

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Cheryl

10:34 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

To understand the terms, one must understand what causes the hypoglycemia, which is an overabundance of insulin being produced by the pancreas. Hence the term 'insulin shock.' Hypoglycemia, and hyperglycemia are diseases. insulin shock is a side effect of those diseases.

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Susan Lossing

11:39 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

She is a diabetic, which means she takes insulin shots to stay alive so her body did not produce too much insulin. Hypoglecemia is the correct medical and lay term for too much insulin not insulin shock and hypoglecemia is not a disease, unless you mean some who is hypoglycemic in which case it is still called hypoglecemia and insulin shock is not used and not a side effect of the disease but hypoglycemia is the side effect of too much insulin. Hyperglycemia is called diabetes, and in her case she has type 1 diabetes and she should have taught her kids to call 911, I taught my daughter when she was 2 how to call 911 and made sure she knew our address because of my type 1 diabetes.

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Carie Greaves-Piccirillo

1:01 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

Insulin shock occurs when the level of your blood sugar drops quickly and leads to unconsciousness. It is a severe form of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and can be fatal if not treated in a timely manner. Insulin shock is considered a diabetes emergency.

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Judith

3:07 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

Actually, Susan, insulin shock (some say insulin reaction) is hypoglycemia. I agree, though, that most people don't know the difference between signs of hypoglycemia (blood sugar too low) and hyperglycemia (blood sugar too high). However, you also said that even you don't know when you've gone into hypoglycemia because the signs are not always that obvious. But that's beside the point. This little boy didn't have to know the difference. He just knew that his mommy was sick and did the right thing! God bless him and his family!

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colleen

8:21 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

Susan--do you mean hypoglycemia or is there another issue called hypoglecmia and hypoglcemic?

saannie

9:11 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

WOW, What an amazing little boy, this mother is right, more parents need to teach their kids how to call 911 and they also need to learn their address. This kid is a super hero in my book as well.

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MotorCityMama

10:26 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

So where is the 911 tape recording so that we can hear it?

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B.A. Morelli

10:51 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

The audio is attached to the article in the image frames. It is listed as a video and has a police car as the background.

Littleone

11:10 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

What a wonderful little boy, all parents should teach their children as well.

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Samantha

1:27 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

People have got to give their children uncomplicated names; & they should change their names to simplify 911 calls. I mean really 'Rain (Raine)' This could have made a huge difference in finding this little boy & his mother.
The fact they only lived there a few days made it very difficult for this darling little boy. No father, just moved, & surely he was confused about everything.
A person with diabitis must immediately train the children to the new information; address, city, even how to spell their name (last).
Just glad this all worked out.

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colleen

8:25 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

Too funny! I call Mary Smith!! That will be my new plain name to simplify things--of course I bet Mary Smith will tell me there are three of those in the phone book. Ambulance could go to all three I guess!

Micheolle Neff

9:11 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

He's champ in my book he did very well! She must be very proud to have such a smart little boy!

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Anne Carothers-Kay

9:27 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011

Khayden and his brother, Jordyn, were just as cute as they could be when I talked to them and their mother. Raine Arnold is just so proud and thankful about her son, which is partly why she decided to let us tell their story.

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Beth Dalbey

3:33 pm on Thursday, April 5, 2012

Can't wait to see who this kid turns out to be when he grows up!

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