LOUISVILLE — A 15-month-old boy was untethered from a respirator and breathing on his own Saturday evening, two days after being pulled from a wading pool by his big brother, who then attempted CPR.

        Jordan Epley, the quick-thinking rescuer of brother Aaron, is 4.

        “The police told him he was a little hero and deserves to be rewarded for what he did,” the boys' mother, Jennifer Epley, said Saturday from Aaron's intensive care room at Kosair Children's Hospital.

        Jordan has spent much of his time at Aaron's bedside with his parents since the near-drowning. Aaron has been sedated while doctors drained water from his lungs. Once, when Aaron started moving, Jordan jumped up and down and exclaimed, “He's alive, he's alive,” his mother said.

        Aaron was upgraded from critical to fair condition Saturday night.

        Aaron fell into the wading pool Thursday at his grandparents' house in Owensboro. Jordan had been playing in the small pool, but Aaron was playing elsewhere in the yard, their mother said.

        “Jordan splashes him so he doesn't get near it,” she said.

        Jennifer Epley said she left the boys to go inside the house. During those moments, Aaron tumbled into the pool and the 44-pound Jordan pulled his nearly 23-pound brother out.

        The mother came back outside to a scene that sent her into panic.

        “Aaron was on his back and Jordan was sitting on his legs and pushing on his chest,” she said.

        Jordan was calm at first. Sensing his mother's fear, though, he began to cry. Jennifer Epley quickly took over the CPR.

        Aaron was not breathing when rescue workers arrived but was revived, said Owensboro police Capt. John Kazlauskas.

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