Brothers give first aid to old man bleeding badly from fall, winning deep thanks from his wife
The two brothers, Muhammad Aniq Hilman Mohd Talib (left) and Norizam Baharon, at the void deck of Block 270 at Tampines Street 21 on Aug 26, 2020.
- They were revising for an upcoming examination at the study area at Block 270 Tampines Street 21 when the man’s wife approached them for help
- The younger brother, Mr Aniq, quickly applied his first aid knowledge by wrapping a cloth around the old man’s arm to stop him from bleeding
- When TODAY visited on Tuesday, his wife said the old man was still warded at Changi General Hospital
SINGAPORE — Six days after a pair of brothers helped an old woman rescue her husband who had fallen down and injured himself at home, the siblings were reunited on Tuesday (Aug 25) with the woman, who repeatedly expressed her gratitude to them.
TODAY was there when the brothers — Mr Norizam Baharon, 25, and Mr Muhammad Aniq Hilman Mohd Talib, 16 — returned to the scene of their efforts, which went viral on social media last week after Mr Norizam wrote about it on Facebook.
The dramatic encounter took place last Wednesday when the pair noticed the woman, who did not want to be identified, walking around the estate at Block 270 Tampines Street 21 looking distressed.
Mr Norizam and Mr Aniq, who live nearby, were busy revising for Mr Aniq’s upcoming examinations in the block’s study area when she approached them asking for help.
“She was saying, ‘I don’t know what to do, my husband is dying’,” Mr Norizam recalled. “I think she was totally lost because she couldn’t find anyone that could help her so she resorted to asking us for help.”
When the siblings arrived at the woman's Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat, they saw her husband lying on the living room floor. His arm was bleeding profusely and he was groaning as his back was in a lot of pain. It is not clear exactly what happened to him.
Spotting a shirt nearby, Mr Aniq, who had years of first-aid training as a staff sergeant at Temasek Secondary School’s National Civil Defence Cadet Corps, quickly sprang into action and tied the shirt around the old man’s arm to stop the bleeding.
“When I saw that blood was dripping (from the man’s arm), I instantly remembered what to do because my CCA (co-curricular activity) taught me that once you see a lot of blood, you should (apply pressure) using whatever is available on top of the wound to stop the blood,” Mr Aniq said.
While his brother tended to the man, Mr Norizam called the paramedics. Then the pair helped carry the man to his bed while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
At this moment, Mr Aniq’s quick thinking came to the fore again. He returned to the ground floor to wait for the paramedics so that he could usher them to the apartment to save them from wasting time locating the right lift to the unit.
During the 10- to 15-minute wait, Mr Norizam also reassured the woman, who was worried and asking questions about when the ambulance would arrive and whether her husband would be okay.
When the ambulance arrived, the pair handed the couple over to the paramedics.
“She was very, very thankful. She couldn’t stop thanking us,” Mr Norizam, who is also an executive in charge of youth programmes, said.
When TODAY accompanied the brothers on Tuesday, the woman was still full of gratitude — repeatedly offering her thanks to the pair once she recognised them.
She said that her husband was still warded at Changi General Hospital and she was not sure when he would be discharged.
Reflecting on the incident, Mr Aniq said that although they were quite shocked by what had happened, they were ultimately grateful that they were able to help someone who was in pain.
Mr Aniq said that back when he was learning all of these first-aid skills in school, he could never have expected that he would have to think on his feet and apply them in a real-life situation.
“Now that all of this has happened, I’m thankful that I learned all of this in my CCA,” he said.
When asked what he took away from this episode, Mr Norizam said that the incident has taught him to always render help to someone if one has the capacity to do so.
“Regardless of (the person’s) race or gender, you should render help when you can (add value to) the situation,” he said. “If not, you should assist by calling for an ambulance or look for someone else that can help.”
For Mr Aniq, he learned not to be scared when confronted with a situation where someone needs help.
“Even though there was a lot of blood, if I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to help the uncle, I would have just left him there,” he said.
“So we should just help no matter what.”
