PLAINVILLE, Mass. — A new mom and dad are thanking Plainville firefighters for saving their infant son’s life after he aspirated milk and became unresponsive.
On Jan. 24, Courtney and Andrew Blacker were in the car with 23-day-old Dawson on their way to visit Andrew’s grandmother, when, within seconds of their ride, Courtney, in the back seat beside her son, noticed something was wrong.
Dawson, Newton-Wellesley Hospital’s first baby of the New Year, had aspirated milk that he had been fed just before the family left. He began struggling to breathe.
“He started making some odd choking noises, and I looked at him, and he didn’t look right,” Courtney recalled. “So, I told Andrew right away. I was like, ‘I think you need to pull over. Something’s wrong.”
“He started turning purple,” Andrew added. “And I just started doing back slaps, and then I realized we needed to go to the fire department immediately.”
Andrew called 911 as the family rushed to Plainville Fire Department less than a mile away.
There, firefighter Isaac Nelson was waiting, along with Capt. Gregory Smith and firefighter Brian Donovan.
When Dawson arrived, he was “unconscious, unresponsive and apneic with a critically low heart rate,” Plainville Fire Chief Robert Skinner, Jr., told Boston 25 News.
The crew cleared Dawson’s airway and began infant CPR. Dawson quickly became responsive, letting out a cry and leading to a wave of emotion and gratitude from his parents.
“If it wasn’t for them–” Andrew began, of the firefighters. “We don’t know if [Dawson] would be here,” Courtney said.
Dawson was rushed to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, where he spent five days on a ventilator and two more enduring tests and monitoring.
“He was super strong the whole time,” Courtney said.
Dawson is now home, doing well, and his parents have since learned infant CPR as well as new feeding techniques to prevent another emergency.
On Wednesday, the family returned to Plainville Fire Department to thank lead paramedic Nelson and the entire crew who saved Dawson’s life.
The new parents brought coffee and doughnuts and took pictures with Dawson’s hero.
“To have [Dawson] here with us, we couldn’t be more grateful,” Courtney said. “We had only been parents for a month, not even, and then this traumatic event happens. And we were so scared and horrified that we were going to lose him.”
Their visit is one of many the Blackers plan to have as Dawson grows up.
“We can’t wait as he gets bigger to take him down the station to visit,” Courtney said, “just [to] know that those are the people who saved him, and they’re the reason he’s here today.”
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