On Thursday, July 16, 2020, James Santiago found his wife unresponsive in the bathtub.  His son Matt, who was home at the time, took action.  First he called 911 and then assisted his dad with pulling his mom out of the tub to lay her flat to administer CPR.  Matt was able to revive her with a pulse until the medics arrived to stabilize and transport her to the hospital.  She survived.

"Both myself and my wife are very proud of our son," James Santiago told SanTanValley.com. "I just don't know what I would of done if he wasn't home."

The following day, while Matt was on his way back from Canyon lake, he witnessed the car in front of him get t-boned at the intersection of Idaho Rd & US 60 underpass. The car flipped and a woman was trapped, injured inside. Matt, and the woman's husband pulled her from the vehicle to safety.

Matt who is now 23 years old, contributes the skills he learned to save both his mom's life and the woman's life the following day, to the training he learned as a Pinal County Sheriff's Office Explorer.  After Matt graduated 8th grade, he joined the Explorer's program where he learned CPR training, as well has how to work hard, and help those in need.  He resigned from the program at the age of 21.  Matt then joined the Army, but unfortunately his career was stopped short, when he came home in December 2017 for the Christmas holiday and was involved in accident.  A car turned left in front of him while he was riding his motorcycle landing him in the ICU in a coma for 2 weeks. His life almost ended that day, but he never quit and is alive today, helping others whenever he can.  

"I want everyone to know how proud I am of my son", said James.  "His heroic actions, hard work and CPR training, that he learned while with the PCSO Explorers program, has helped him save more than one life and I couldn't be more proud."