Doctor driving home forced to detour ends up saving child's life

September 28, 2012

Jessica and Brian Smith were driving home during a bad rain storm when suddenly their 2 year-old son, Nathan, stopped breathing.

They pulled the car over on the side of a highway and attempted to revive Nathan with CPR. It wasn't working. A couple of cars pulled over to help, including a paramedic and a preacher but Nathan would not respond.

A couple miles away was U.S. Congressman Andy Harris, who happens to be a practicing anesthesiologist, trying to get home. The flooding caused by the rain forced him to take a detour from his normal route home...which took him right to Nathan.

"I ended up on Rabbit Hill Road, and across 50, there were these cars stopped, and I saw someone was actually on the ground," Harris told local reporters.

Nathan's parents told reporters they heard Harris running up to them yelling "I'm here, I'm a doctor!"

"I went over and stopped, and there was a child in respiratory arrest on the ground," Harris said. "I did what needed to be done, and opened up his airway and held it open. After a few seconds, he started gasping and then started breathing irregularly at first and then breathing more regularly. I think within 10 or 15 minutes the ambulance had arrived, and at that point, he was already getting to be responsive. The EMTs took him to Easton Memorial Hospital, and I went on my way."

Within a few hours, the hospital released Nathan, who is doing fine.

Nathan's grandfather, Charles Jones, wrote to Andy Harris on facebook to thank him for saving Nathan's life.

"Thank You Andy from the bottom of our hearts for stopping in a storm and helping our family, we thank God that He put you there when they needed help," said Jones.

Talk about being at the right place at the right time. A sudden detour causes a doctor to come across a child who desperately needs his help to survive. The Lord works in many ways...