FINEST MIRACLE
Cops save baby after seizure leaves her without pulse
Thanks to Officers (left to right) Michael Pace, Joseph Doyle and Daniel Newman, little Chloe Ivanov (inset top) is home and recovering.
CAROLINE IVANOV couldn’t believe she was watching her daughter die.
When 15-month-old Chloe Ivanov suddenly stopped breathing, her mom called 911 and then, clutching the child, ran onto the streets of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, in a panic. She spotted a police car stopped at a red light and frantically banged on the window, begging the officers inside for help.
“I was terrified,” Ivanov, 29, recalled Sunday. “This is my first child, my only child, and I’m watching her go lifeless in my arms.”
Ivanov was visiting friends for dinner Saturday when her adorable blue-eyed toddler suffered a seizure a little after 7 p.m.
The officers, who were stopped at Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach Ave., instantly saw the situation was dire.
“The baby had a bluish tint, she wasn’t breathing, a lot of bubbles (were) coming out of her mouth,” said Officer Michael Pace.
He radioed for an ambulance, but was told the closest one was seven to eight minutes away.
Chloe didn’t look like she had that much time.
“That was way too long,” Pace, 26, said. “So we just put her in the back of the car.”
There, Officer Daniel Newman, 29, a trained emergency medical technician, discovered that the little girl didn’t have a pulse. He began cardiopulmonary resuscitation “trying to get an airway to the baby” as his colleague raced to Coney Island Hospital about five blocks away.
Newman had never performed CPR on a baby before.
“There was a little bit of terror,” he admitted. “I was scared for the kid. Training just kicked in.”
He desperately continued trying to save Chloe as the police car sped to the hospital.
His efforts worked, and as suddenly as she’d stopped, Chloe began to breathe again. The relief was intense as the girl took a few precious breaths. Then the color in her face returned.
Officer Joseph Doyle, 26, who was also involved in the rescue, noted the team was fortunate the hospital was so close.
For Ivanov, who lives in Cortlandt Manor in Westchester County, the brief ride felt like forever. And her trust in the officers seemed that way, too.
“I felt like I knew him (one of the officers) for an eternity,” she said. “He’s touching my daughter and I don’t even know the guy’s name. It was like this great, immense sense of trust that I had put in this stranger and in the end it really paid off.”
Doctors believe little Chole’s seizure may have been triggered by a high fever.
“She’s still sick. They say it’s a virus,” Ivanov said. “She’s still spiking some fevers, but no seizure, thank God.”
Chloe stayed in the hospital overnight as a precaution but was back home and giggling away during an episode of “Elmo’s World” on Sunday.
“She’s getting better, but honestly, I don’t know where we would be without the cops on the street,” Ivanov said. “They did everything they could do, and they really acted as New York’s Finest in that moment.”