Mission accomplished
Taylor family finds the people who helped save the life of their daughter 21 years ago
Well, that didn’t take long at all. Just hours after The Guardian posted a story Thursday night about a family looking for Islanders who helped save the life of an 11-day-old baby 21 years ago, all the players involved were found.
“It’s crazy,’’ said an emotional Mary Taylor on Friday, shortly after speaking with one of the people involved in that life-and-death moment.
Taylor, who now lives in Westville, N.S., was driving with her sister-in-law, Wendy, to her home in Freetown from Charlottetown on July 27, 1997, when she noticed her daughter, Emma, not breathing beside her.
Wendy immediately pulled over and started artificial respiration on Emma as Mary attempted to flag motorists down.
Two vehicles pulled over. One was a woman who knew first aid who began working on Emma right away. The other was an older couple from Kensington
who drove them to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where it was determined Emma had suffered a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) event that was reversed due to the quick thinking of the Good Samaritans.
The Taylors spoke to The Guardian Thursday in an attempt to find the Samaritans and
thank them, and within hours of the newspaper posting the story online the woman called Mary. Then she heard from the son of the Kensington couple, who had seen the story online at his home in Saskatchewan. He was nine back in 1997 and was actually in the car on that July day.
Plans are already in the works
for Emma and her parents, Mary and Shawn, to meet the woman, who wants to remain anonymous. Mary had yet to actually speak to the Kensington couple when The Guardian spoke to her on Friday afternoon but she planned on asking to meet them, too.
“I went along (with this) because Emma really wanted to try and find them,’’ Mary said. “I thought, ‘life has moved on, it’s been a long time’. I didn’t really think we’d find them. It’s really exciting how quick it happened and (we’re) so thankful.’’
Mary said her conversation with the woman was very emotional, noting that the woman deflected any praise, saying anyone would have done what she did.
“It’s been very emotional, actually, to relive this over and over again the last few days because it was such a life-changing moment for us,’’ Mary said, her voice beginning to crack a little. “Emma is really happy and excited because it’s something she has dreamed of doing. She’s dreamed of meeting these people and thanking them.’’
When contacted by The Guardian on social media to find out if she was excited, Emma’s response was brief.
“Very!’’ she said.