Students save bus driver who was overcome with pneumonia

WEST PALM BEACH — Stephanie Decosma knew something was wrong as she rode the bus home from West Boca High School one afternoon last February.

Her bus driver, Stacy McRae, had been coughing the entire ride, and as the bus neared her stop, the final one of the day, the 16-yearold noticed that the coughing had gotten much worse.

“Out of nowhere, she turned around and told me she couldn’t breathe,” Stephanie said Thursday at the annual Distinguished Service Awards given out by the Safety Council of Palm Beach County. “I didn’t think. I didn’t have time to think. I just acted.”

McRae pulled the bus safely to the side of Hagen Ranch Road in suburban Delray Beach. Stephanie grabbed the radio and alerted dispatch. Her cousin, Lorny Decosma, tried to keep McRae cool and calm.

“I noticed she was wearing two shirts,” said Lorny, 18, who recently graduated from the school. “I took one of them off of her, and I lifted her hair and fanned her the best I could. We were just trying to keep her cool until help showed up.”

In the moment, it seemed like help would never arrive, Lorny recalled. In reality, emergency services were just a few minutes away.

McRae was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. It had triggered an asthma attack, she said.

“I knew something was off, but I was trying to get everyone home. I didn’t want anyone worrying because their kids were late,” McRae said. “But thank God those girls were on the bus. I don’t think I would be here today if I would have made it to their stop.”

She returned to work the next day. Lorny said she nearly cried when she saw her: “She’s the best bus driver ever.”

She and Stephanie said they didn’t mind making it home later than usual on the day of the asthma attack.

“I’m just glad she hadn’t already dropped us off,” Stephanie said. “There’s no telling what could have happened.”