Baby reunited with life-saving first responders
Infant suffered cardiac arrest on Christmas Eve
The emergency responders who helped save the life of 7-month-old baby Phoenix on Christmas Eve came together for an emotional reunion at Humboldt Bay Fire Station 3 on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate his return from UCSF hospital in San Francisco.
“The reason we’re all here is for Phoenix,” said Humboldt Bay Fire spokesperson Amy Conlin. “We’re so grateful to have this opportunity to come together and hear how he’s doing.”
Shortly after 11 p.m. on Dec.24,eurekadispatcher Laura Altic received the report of an unconscious infant.
“I’m a relatively new dispatcher and it was the first call of an unconscious child I had received. … I remember just wishing I was there to give you a hug,” Altic said to Phoenix’s mother and father, Pa Yang and Long Moua.
“It was a really scary night, everything just happened so fast,” Yang said, holding Phoenix tightly against her chest. “We had just gotten home from celebrating Christmas with my brother’s family and he (went into cardiac arrest.)”
According to his family’s Gofundme page, Phoenix was born with a coarctation in his heart. His mother was induced early and Phoenix underwent surgery one week later and was hospitalized in San Francisco for a month. During that time, doctors discovered he had an atrial septal defect, or sometimes called a “hole in the heart.”
“In November, his echocardiogram
showed that the hole in his heart was bigger than anticipated and the right side of his heart was swollen,” according to the Gofundme. “Phoenix had started to have issues with his lungs and had developed hypertension. His cardiologists confirmed that Phoenix couldn’t wait any longer for surgery to close up the hole in his heart and was scheduled for surgery on Dec. 29. Unfortunately, Phoenix’s went into cardiac arrest just a few days before.”
The crew of Humboldt Bay Fire’s Engine 8113 responded immediately. As an engineer, Brett Egbert said it is his responsibility to not only drive the fire engine but to know the most efficient way to get to their destination. In a strange coincidence, he recalled having just studied that particular section of city maps earlier that day.
“Luckily, I knew exactly where I was going,” Egbert said. “You only get help on very rare occasions, you’re expected to know where you’re going 99% of the time.”
Upon arrival, the crew found Phoenix lying on the ground unconscious and without a pulse. The crew immediately began performing CPR, administering oxygen and preparing the cardiac monitor for defibrillation for Phoenix. With no improvement after the first shock to his heart, HBF captain and paramedic John Goodman administered life-saving medications to Phoenix while Egbert and firefighter Logan Bongio continued CPR.
“These guys stepped in a did what they had to do, beat his heart for him and breathe for him,” Goodman said.
Turning to Yang, Goodman expressed his gratitude for her ability to remain calm during such an intense situation.
“I know it was traumatizing for you, but we very much appreciated that you were able to get us the information we needed to save his life,” Goodman said.
“It was immediately obvious it was gonna be a pretty hard call. Anything to do with children, especially around the holidays is going to bring a lot of stress to the family but I couldn’t ask for a better crew,” Bongio said.
Emergency room nurse Katt Smith and Dr. Jason Bourland were notified of the situation before Phoenix arrived at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka.
“We get a pre-alert when something like this happens. Your heart really sinks, especially when it’s a baby,” Bourland said.
“It’s terrifying,” Smith said. “You step into the family’s role for a second and this is their new baby and it’s Christmas Eve … we said, ‘This is not going to be a bad thing that happens today.’ “
Soon after Phoenix was stabilized, he was taken to UCSF where his team of doctors shifted focus from his heart defect to address the damage to his brain.
“It’s scary having to hear that he has severe brain damage and that he might not be the same Phoenix he was before,” Yang said. “But he’s fighting, he’s starting to show signs of the same Phoenix. We’re just happy that he’s home.”
Yang added that Phoenix began physical therapy and his legs have gotten stronger and he is able to follow better with his eyes.
“In this business, we don’t get a lot of people that check-in. We don’t usually get to see what happened or get the whole story,” Bourland said. “So it’s pretty awesome.”
“This is the first time in nine years that I’ve ever gotten to follow-up on a save,” Egbert said. “I’ve been lucky enough to have been part of a couple saves but nothing to this extent. It was a call that really hit home with me, I have a 12-month-old and a 4-year-old. It was probably my worst and best call. I remember getting pretty teary-eyed driving to pick them up at the hospital. At that point, I thought that he had potentially passed on, so it’s pretty hard for me because I didn’t get to see really the second half. When I got there and he was alive and doing well… you don’t forget stuff like that.”
The crew presented the family with a baby onesie with the HBF logo and a goodie bag and told Yang and Moua that they will always be a part of the HBF family.
Phoenix’s Gofundme page can be accessed at https://gofund. me/93408cfd.