LYNN — Coach Cassie DeMille and her Lynn English cheerleaders weren’t sure what to think when someone was furiously banging on the windows outside the cafeteria where they were practicing on Nov. 6. Students are trained not to let outsiders in the building, but one of the cheerleaders recognized the boy and they opened the nearest door.
They saw freshman Rylie Mitton, who was clearly in distress. Her face was swelled, she was coughing and having trouble breathing. Her friend Eric Antonelli – the window banger – helped get her into the building and they laid her on one of the mats the cheerleaders were practicing on. Mitton was able to talk and told DeMille she was having an allergic reaction. Her EpiPen was in her backpack.
DeMille, a kindergarten paraprofessional in Saugus who trained in the use of an EpiPen when she was a camp director at the YMCA, injected the EpiPen into Mitton’s leg, as the cheerleaders formed a circle around her and talked to her to keep her calm.
“I stopped coughing and itching,” said Mitton, a freshman who is in JROTC at English. “I still felt numb, but I felt better.”
Paramedics came and took her by ambulance to Salem Hospital, where her mother, Tiffany, was just arriving.
“That’s a terrifying phone call to get,” Tiffany Mitton said. “Sometimes people don’t step in to help. I’m a first aid and CPR instructor, but it’s a game-changer when it’s real.”
English Athletic Director Dick Newton is proud of the way his coach and her cheerleaders responded.
“Cassie is a really good person, and we’re lucky to have her,” Newton said. “She and her team performed under more pressure than they will ever feel in any competition. They are stars.”
The cause of the allergic reaction was one potato chip that Mitton ate that contained tomato, to which she is allergic. The list of ingredients on the bag of chips was written in Vietnamese, so she couldn’t read it, but didn’t expect tomato to be one of them.
One of the cheerleaders on the squad is Erin Furlong, whose father, Tim Furlong, is chief of police in Nahant. She called him as soon as they got Mitton in the building and he offered guidance. As a first responder, Furlong can appreciate how well DeMille and her team handled the situation.
“I know how quickly these situations can go south. It doesn’t take much,” Furlong said. “With my professional background, I can say that coach essentially saved this child’s life that night.”
For that, her mother is eternally grateful.
“They were heroes that day,” said Tiffany Mitton, who visited a recent practice with Rylie to thank DeMille and the team in person. “My kids were military kids and we’ve lived everywhere from Germany to Guam. This is our first real taste of being part of a community.”
Having moved to Massachusetts last year and Lynn at the end of August, it seems as if they chose the right place to settle.
“This school has put Rylie in a place where she feels like she belongs,” Tiffany said. “They loved her in that moment enough to give her lifesaving care.”
In addition to some well-deserved recognition, DeMille might pick up a new cheerleader.
“Rylie has always wanted to be a cheerleader,” Tiffany said. “She may try out next season.”
