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MIAMI — Moving photos of a woman resuscitating her nephew on the side of a freeway are making the rounds on the Internet.
The pictures are from a Thursday-afternoon incident in Miami. Pamela Rauseo pulled to the side of the Dolphin Expressway and jumped out of her vehicle holding her 5-month-old nephew, screaming for help, according to the Miami Herald.
Another motorist, Lucila Godoy, pulled over to help Rauseo resuscitate Sebastian de la Cruz, who had stopped breathing and was turning blue.
The photos — snapped by a Miami Herald photographer who saw the woman and exited his vehicle to alert police officers in a patrol car on the expressway to the emergency — are a peek into the frantic moments of Rauseo performing CPR on her nephew as he lies limp in her arms. Officers and Godoy kneel close by, aiding in the rescue.
“As a photojournalist you want to capture these images, but as a human being you want to get help,” Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Al Diaz told the New York Daily News. According to USA Today, he ran for help because he did not know CPR.
As Rauseo breathed into her nephew’s mouth, officers performed chest pumps on the tiny body, the Herald reported. The baby eventually resumed breathing, and photos show an officer holding Sebastian as his aunt kneels on the ground and clasps hands with Godoy. It was during this time that Diaz began taking photos.
Then the baby stopped breathing again. Two members of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s hazardous materials unit were stuck in traffic and had heard the call come over the radio. They jumped from their car and began administering help.
Sebastian was taken to an area hospital and was in stable condition, according to the Herald.
Some are calling the resuscitation a miracle, crediting Godoy, Diaz and officers for their willingness to stop on the busy road and help Rauseo resuscitate the baby. The photos show the concern in each person's face and the desperateness of the situation.
But Diaz sees it another way.
"The hero in this story is Pamela," Diaz told USA Today. "She's the one that saved the baby."
