CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — An Island couple said they have a helpful Good Samaritan to thank for the life of their baby following a parent’s nightmare on Thursday night.
Cody McEachern and his girlfriend Corinne McQuillan were driving home from shopping Thursday night when McEachern started to hear unusual noises coming from their eight-month-old baby Archer in the backseat.
McEachern pulled his car over, around the Nissan dealership in Charlottetown, to discover Archer was having a seizure.
“He was blue to the face, his eyes were rolling to the back of his head and I just remember yelling ‘Oh my god’ and jumping out of the car as fast as I could,” said McEachern.
Panicked, McEachern pulled Archer out of the car. His baby was limp and unresponsive.
Within minutes, a woman who had just gotten off the bus came running towards them from up the road on nearby Nicholas Lane.
She took control of the situation, said McEachern.
“She picked him up, started smacking him on the back and eventually he coughed and started crying and started to come around,” he said.
As a handful more vehicles pulled over to help the couple, the woman got Archer to breathe again. Not long after, paramedics arrived.
In the urgency of the situation, the couple did not get the name of the woman who helped them.
On Friday, McEachern’s mother posted to Facebook about the incident in a quest to find the woman walking on Nicholas Lane that night.
Within an hour, Justyn Caldwell was identified as the mystery woman.
Caldwell is a preschool teacher who takes her CPR and First Aid training every three years.
She said she spent all night thinking about the baby she helped. When she was sent the Facebook post looking for her, she felt relief.
“When I walked away from the scene I knew he was in good hands but I didn’t know what happened afterwards but knowing he’s home and okay and doing great makes me really happy,” said the Charlottetown resident.
McEachern said they are extremely thankful to Caldwell.
“I’m so thankful she was there because I had no idea what was going on I thought he was gone,” he said. “She just came, took control of the whole situation and he’s here still.”
Archer was back to his usual playful self after being at the hospital. It was the first time anything like this had happened.
His seizure was a febrile seizure, caused by high body temperature from a fever that came on quickly.
“From what the hospital told us this is common with kids with fevers this young,” said McEachern. “When the ambulance got there his temperature was around 40 degrees.”
While Caldwell was the first on scene, McEachern said the family is thankful to everyone who stopped their vehicles and asked to help.
“It seemed like people were swarming to that spot,” he said. “I don’t know if that would actually happen anywhere else. It’s almost more of an Island thing. We’re always so open to lend a helping hand.”
