Monrovia Firefighters Save Toddler's Life in 'Christmas Miracle'

Monrovia firefighters got a special visit last week from the child they helped to save after he went into cardiac arrest earlier this month.

Two-year-old Thierry Espinosa lost the color in his face and appeared to be having trouble breathing on Dec. 10 when his mother called 911. She said the quick response of firefighters and paramedics likely saved Thierry's life.

"One minute more, my baby would die," Karin Espinosa said. "It's really important that they came fast and helped me with my baby."

Monrovia Fire Chief Christopher Donovan said Thierry was in full cardiac arrest when firefighter/paramedics Harvey Hewitt and Anthony Gallegos, fire Capt. Brad Dover, engineer Andrew McDaniel and firefighter Randy Towns arrived on scene in the 700 block of Magnolia Avenue. They inserted a tube into his throat to facilitate breathing and initiated heart defibrilation and CPR.

"It was a once-in-a-career type of save because the baby was in cardiac arrest," Donovan said. "We ended up doing full advanced life support and CPR. We had to defibrillate and shock the baby's heart several times."

The efforts of the firefighters revived Thierry, and he was transported to Arcadia Methodist Hospital, where he spent the next 15 days recuperating. Doctors performed "therapeutic hypothermic treatment" to lower Thierry's core body temperature, and he spent eight days in the hospital's intensive care unit, according to Donovan.

To thank the firefighters for their life saving work, Thierry, his mother and his brother showed up at the fire station for a surprise visit last week.They took pictures with the firefighters and thanked them for their help.

"It was a great visit. We weren't expecting the mom to come with the son," Donovan said. "It was great for them to see the baby back to normal."

Donovan called it "a true Christmas miracle."

"Thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Monrovia firefighters on scene, the care of nurse's and doctor's as well as Thierry's strength to survive, the Espinosa family had a special Christmas this year," Donovan wrote in his weekly report.