‘How I found baby in drain’
Chance early walk with dog leads PE granny to rescue crying infant
I honestly believe I was meant to find that baby, especially because I usually take a different route on our walks. There is obviously a plan and purpose for that little girl’s life
FIRST she rescued a dog – last year – and now she has saved a baby from almost certain death. Yesterday, a Port Elizabeth grandmother told how what she had first thought were the cries of a cat coming from a stormwater drain turned out to be a newborn girl who had been dumped down the duct but miraculously survived.
The remarkable rescue of the infant – who was only a few hours old – came after Charmaine Keevy, 63, experienced a sudden urge to walk her rescue dog much earlier than usual in Lorraine yesterday morning – and for some reason, took a different route.
“I believe I was meant to find that baby,” she said later.
The 3.09kg infant was rushed to hospital by ambulance after Keevy flagged down a passing motorist who helped lift the heavy cement drain covers.
The drain has a narrow opening onto Sedan Avenue.
The newborn was naked and still had the umbilical cord attached and a coating of vernix – a white substance covering the skin of a baby at birth – on her body.
Police are investigating a case of concealment of birth and child abandonment.
Keevy said she had felt an inexplicable urgency to take her dog, George, for a walk yesterday.
“People must have thought I was mad, because I tried stopping everyone until finally a man from Vertical Blinds helped me [lift the covers of the] drain,” she said.
“I don’t know what I would have done had he not stopped to help.
“I don’t usually take my dog for a walk that early in the morning, but felt such an urgency to leave my home that I didn’t even have time to put my running shoes on.
“When we passed the drain, Georgie started barking.
“I first thought it was a cat because he is scared of cats, but then when I heard the cries again, I realised it was a baby.”
Keevy said when the motorist opened the drain, the girl was seen lying at the bottom of the duct.
“I immediately wrapped her in my jersey to keep her warm,” she said.
“Atlas [Security] and the ambulance were then alerted and they assisted the baby before taking her off to a hospital. It was overwhelming to see how compassionate these men were – to help this baby and hold her in their arms.
“I honestly believe I was meant to find that baby, especially because I usually take a different route on our walks.
“There is obviously a plan and purpose for that little girl’s life and when I got home I just said a prayer for that baby’s mother because we can’t just assume that she didn’t want her baby.
“It must have been difficult for her to leave her baby there, but I am very honoured to have found the baby and helped.”
Last year, Keevy found George – a cross between a Jack Russell and a sausage dog – in a trolley outside the Greenacres shopping centre.
The dog’s owners had left him in the trolley and told the security guard they would return to collect him, but never did.
“I took the dog home with me and left my number with the security guard, but no one ever called,” Keevy said.
“So we kept him – he is the
naughtiest little dog with the most amazing personality and we love him to bits.
“I think this dog who was abandoned himself had a purpose and [yesterday] he found this little girl.
“I just get so overwhelmed when I think about how it all fell into place.”
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the baby had been taken to Dora Nginza Hospital.
He confirmed that the little girl still had the umbilical cord attached when she was found.
Four cases of abandoned children, including yesterday’s baby, have been reported at Dora Nginza Hospital this year already.
They include a premature girl who was left at the hospital after she had spent a month in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Another baby who had Down Syndrome was left in the hospital’s lift.
Both incidents happened in January.
In February, a two-year-old boy known as Sinothando was left in the hospital’s waiting room by his mother, who was arrested later.
Social worker Pamela Rubushe said the stormwater baby would remain at the hospital while the investigation was under way and would then be taken to a place of safety.
“It is believed that the baby had been in the stormwater drain for maybe an hour or so before being found,” Rubushe said.
“It is very wrong for people to do this.
“We always tell our patients to come to us for help because this type of thing needs to be avoided at all costs.
“This happened outside of our area but I encourage anyone with information to come forward,” she said.
“When a baby is dumped, it causes a lot of problems for us to register the child – which is unnecessary and unfair on the child.”
Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu confirmed that the baby had been found, naked and screaming, in the drain.