Baby given CPR by side of Florida highway had cysts removed from trachea
MIAMI - A baby who was resuscitated by the side of a Florida highway last month had three cysts removed from his trachea that were making it difficult for him to breathe, his parents said this week, the Miami Herald reported.
Five-month-old Sebastian de la Cruz stopped breathing while his aunt was driving him to a doctor's appointment two weeks ago.
His aunt, Pamela Rauseo, jumped out of her SUV screaming for help. Behind her was a Miami Herald photographer, Al Diaz, who alerted a Sweetwater police officer and then captured images of Rauseo giving her nephew CPR alongside the Dolphin Expressway.
Another motorist, Lucilla Godoy, also stopped to help.
Rauseo and Sebastian's parents, Paola Vargas and Robinson de la Cruz, said Wednesday that they would not have known that the cysts needed to be removed had he not stopped breathing that day, the newspaper reported.
Sebastian was born prematurely after Vargas, who is a nurse, noticed the baby was ceasing to move in her womb.
"They did a C-section, and thank God he was born all right," the newspaper quoted her as saying. "I believe he is destined for something great because he has been given back to me twice."
Rouseo, who runs a preschool and has three children of her own, said she had CPR training. But when the baby stopped breathing, she needed help from the others who calmed her down, she said.