FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE When: (Approximately 7:45 p.m.) Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
Where: Holiday Inn Southwest-Viking Conference Center, 10709 Watson Rd. (Watson and Lindbergh), St. Louis, Mo., 63127
Contact: Joe Mueller, Director of Public Relations
;
Cell: (314) 603-9983
ST. LOUIS – A Boy Scout who took control of his family automobile on an interstate highway after his diabetic mother became ill due to low blood sugar will receive a
Heroism Award for his actions.
Alex C. Huggins, 15, from Troop 5, chartered to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #3838 in Cape Girardeau, Mo., will be recognized during a National Court of Honor on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The ceremony will take place at the end of the
Greater St. Louis Area Council’s annual fundraising campaign kickoff dinner. He is a freshman at
Cape Girardeau Central High School.
Alex was riding with his mother, Paula Huggins, on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2010, on Interstate 55 near Cape Girardeau. The northbound lanes of the highway were closed for repairs and traffic was rerouted so northbound and southbound traffic was using the two southbound lanes simultaneously. Alex noticed the car began to swerve in the traffic lane and realized his mother was suffering from low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. As the car veered into the temporary northbound lane and hit several pylons separating the lanes, he grabbed the steering wheel and guided the automobile to the side of the road. He sternly told his mother to take her foot off the accelerator and to apply the brake. When the car came to a stop, he immediately turned off the engine and used a cell phone to call for help.
While earning
Disabilities Awareness Merit Badge in 2009, he learned how diabetics can become dizzy, confused, suffer seizures or enter a coma. While waiting for help, Alex found a few glucose tablets and a packet of grape jelly in his mother’s purse and had her consume them. Mrs. Huggins didn’t need immediate or additional medical assistance or treatment, but she believes Alex prevented an accident that could have taken their lives and the lives of others that day.
The Heroism Medal is the third-highest award presented by the
Boy Scouts of America. Of the more than 2.7 million youth members in the B.S.A., less than 150 received the Heroism Award last year. Only three thousand awards were presented since their inception in 1923.
