BOISE, Idaho — Every superhero has an origin story, and the heart of a good origin story reveals your motivation or your "why.” It also creates a level of connection and validity to the hero.
That is especially true for Noail Isho a local man that says he went from being a drowning victim to the one doing the saving.
“My family moved to Boise as refugees in 2010, when I was 13 years old," Isho said.
One of the first things Isho and his family did when getting to the city of trees was taking a dip in the water at the downtown Boise YMCA.
Isho says the water was uncharted territory for him and didn’t know how to swim, but that didn’t stop him from jumping in. So, a lifeguard had to pull him out.
“One of the swim instructors saw me struggling and she offered to teach me swim lessons," Isho said.
That's where his origin story began. A month of swim lessons went by and Isho felt he was ready for a new challenge.
So, he joined the YMCA swim team and competed for about two years. He mastered each stroke from butterfly to breast stroke, but then he had his eyes set on something more.
Isho joined the lifeguard team and quickly began rising through the ranks.
"At 15, I was a lifeguard and then at 18 I became a head lifeguard," Isho said.
Initially, Isho took the job to help provide for his family.
"When we came to the US, my dad wasn't with us. He was rejected from coming to the US as a refugee. We don't know why," Isho said. "I'm the youngest [and] everyone's going to school and trying to work, my mom was working, none of us speak English fluently at that point. So it was just important for me to be able to help my family even at that young age."
After his first year as the lead guard, his training was put to the test.
"We got called up to 1010, which is the medical emergency code here at the Y, equivalent to a rapid response code at the hospital," Isho said. "We came up and we had we had a gentleman who had a cardiac arrest at the cardio room."
All this took place in a matter or minutes and Isho said his instincts kicked in and the rest was second nature.
“Through CPR and through AED in our training, we brought him back to life in just under a minute,” Isho said. “When the EMS showed up, they were confused of where the person that was in trouble was because everybody was awake."
This was the moment Isho realized his true calling, a career in medicine. From there things started moving quickly.
"Fast forward, I go to Boise State for undergrad, I get a molecular biology degree and a minor in Chemistry, did some neuroscience research with Alzheimer's over there and co-authored some research articles with my professor,” Isho said. “Then I was accepted in medical school at the University of Washington in Seattle."
As Isho reflects on his journey, he can't help but think of everyone who helped him get to this point.
"It's not just my story, it's everyone's story,” Isho said. “It's my parents story, it's the Y's story, because all these entities have had some kind of effect into the story altogether."
Isho finished medical school a few months ago and has returned to the Treasure Valley to spend time with his family before heading off to Seattle for his residency.
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