Lazarus The Fish - A True Story of Hope

To those of you who do not know me, let me tell you a little about myself. I am a second generation American. My grand parents all immigrated from Italy in the beginning of the 1900,s. I have been fortunate to inherit many of the qualities that allowed my ancestors to survive and prosper. Among those qualities are dedication, optimism, diligence and hope. The story I am about to tell you is absolutely true. I hope you find encouragement with your own personal Fish-Out-Of-Water situations in life.

It was about 6:30AM and I was going out to fetch the morning newspaper. To my great dismay I found one of my 6 inch long pond fish had jumped out of the pond and lay half dried up on the patio a few feet from the water. I immediately recalled a similar incident of about 20 years ago when I had found Goldie, my sons pet fish, dried up on the living room carpet one early morning. I had picked up the fish lamenting its loss. I held it in my hand and spoke to the fish. "You poor thing". At that moment, the fish rolled its eyes to my astonishment. "Oh my God" I said, "You are still alive." I quickly placed the fish back into its bowl and believe it or not, that fish survived.
Encouraged with this memory, I quickly picked up the fish and started to perform what may be
the first documented case of Fishy CPR. I quickly pulled the tube out of the filter and placed the pumped stream of pond water directly to the mouth of the fish. It did not respond, so I gently
squeezed his mouth open so that the stream of water was flowing into his now opened mouth. I did this for about a minute when it occurred to me that maybe gently squeezing his body might aid his revival. So I began to gently squeeze. Soon his mouth started gulping the water. Then its eyes began to roll from side to side. I continued to hold the fish for probably 15 minutes before I placed him back in the pond. That was 2 weeks ago and the newly named fish, Lazarus is still swimming and eating well. He does have damaged skin on one side, but I am hoping he will be strong enough to heal.
So what is the point of this story? It is have hope. Never give up. Keep the Faith. And if possible, get a CPR card. The fish you save, may be your own.