Walpole teen saves friend's life on school field trip, recognized as hero

WALPOLE, Mass. — A Walpole eighth-grader who helped save the life of a classmate on a field trip received a hero award from his town’s police department.

Timothy Sullivan, whose friends call him “T Sully,” administered an EpiPen to his friend, who was suffering a severe allergic reaction during Bird Middle School’s field trip at Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire.

Haidar Faraj, who always carries an EpiPen because of his allergies to nuts and wheat, began breaking out in hives and struggling to breathe Friday afternoon. He says the French fries he had eaten 10 minutes before had apparently been cooked in peanut oil.

“We went to go use the EpiPen, but I didn’t know how to use it,” Haidar said. “So one classmate offered to help… She tried it, but it didn’t work at first. So then that’s when T Sully came in, and he helped me out.’

T was confident he could help, relying on his training from Brantwood Camp, a Peterborough, N. H., summer camp that fosters personal development for kids. At camp, kids learn health and medical skills including, practicing injecting EpiPens without the needles.

“I took it. I said, ‘Haidar, are you ready?’ I said, ‘One, two, three,’ and I stabbed it into him,” T said.

A classmate captured cell phone video showing T administering the EpiPen just as it is intended: Haidar held his leg steady, as T injected the EpiPen into the outer middle thigh.

Within moments, Haidar’s breathing became regular, and T called for help.

“I told him to come sit down, give your leg a rest, where he got stabbed, and I went to go get some security guards,” T said.

Haidar was taken to the hospital, where his parents picked him up a couple hours later.

Since then, Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael went to Bird Middle School and presented T with the hero award and handed him tickets to the movie theater.

“He’s an amazing teenager, as you can see, and we’re very proud of him,” Chief Carmichael said. “He literally helped save that boy’s life. And you know, that in and of itself, that is the definition of a hero. And that’s a special young man.”

“I thought I was in trouble when he handed it to me,” T said of the moment he was approached by Chief Carmichael in gym class. “I honestly got proud of myself. It was honestly pretty cool to receive it.”

Haidar, whose mother expressed gratitude for T’s actions, agreed that T deserved to be honored.

“It felt good that someone was there that knew how to use the EpiPen, and I was relieved when I knew that it worked,” Haidar said. “He saved my life. So it’s a good thing that he was recognized for that.”

Cox Media Group