Dad saves life of newborn abandoned at bus stop
DANIEL Braxton was driving through a seaside town with his partner and 18-year-old daughter when the teenager started screaming that she thought she’d seen a dead baby at the roadside.
At first he thought it may have been a prank, but as his daughter Talitha’s screams grew more hysterical, he turned the car around and drove back to the scene.
There he found lying on the bus stop’s stone floor, blue and seemingly lifeless, a newborn, naked baby. He could even see the umbilical cord. His response was to try to save the little girl’s life.
“We pulled up at the bus stop, but I didn’t want us all to get out because I didn’t want my daughter to see it. I rang the police and the ambulance and told them there was something in the bus stop,” he told the Daily Post.
Mr Braxton, 35, who has a baby and is expecting another with his partner, Toni, 25, said he jumped out of the car and ran over to the bus stop to find the naked baby girl lying there, not breathing.
He added: “She was blue and lifeless. She wasn’t even wrapped in a blanket or anything. She was just lying there on the cold stone. I rushed back to the car and grabbed a dressing-gown I had in there and wrapped the baby up in it.
“She was a fair size, I’d say probably around the 7lb mark. She was not tiny, but definitely newborn as she still had the umbilical cord on. I gave her a few hard rubs on her chest to see if there was any life in her, and at that point she gave a big gasp and opened her eyes.
“When she took her first breath and opened her eyes, I saw those beautiful big brown eyes staring up at me.
“As I waited for the ambulance I was just cuddling her, telling her everything was going to be all right. Not that she could understand me, but I just thought she needed to hear a comforting voice.”
He said he hoped the infant’s mother would come forward to the police, and that he hoped he could see the little one again.
“She was just born. She had nothing in this world. I’d love to see her again, even if just to take her a teddy to the hospital.”
Daniel was supposed to be travelling to Stoke-on-Trent to visit his son, but he would now “just stay at home and, fingers crossed, I’ll get a phone call saying she’s pulled through”.
“I did what I hope anyone would do. I’m still in shock over it, to tell the truth. I came to north Wales looking for work. I’ve been a butcher, a welder, I’ve come here trying to find a job and ended up saving a baby. Hopefully she’ll be my lucky charm.”
It is understood the baby girl was left in the bus shelter in Towyn, Conwy, sometime between 6am and 7.15am yesterday, just before Mr Braxton found her.
Helen Douglas, from North Wales Police, said: “We want Mum to know that she is currently being cared for and treated in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.
“We are concerned about the health of the mother of the baby girl and are appealing for her to come forward by contacting me, Helen, on 07835 923787. Likewise, if you are a concerned friend, relative or neighbour of the mother you can also contact me on the same number.
“Alternatively, if anyone knows who the mother is or can provide any information which may assist in identifying her please contact North Wales Police by calling 101,”