Traveling with children is a stressful affair on an ordinary day, especially if you have to fly with children solo.
Packing for a trip with kids you try to remember everything, to prepare for every contingency, loading up everything from extra outfits to a first-aid kit.
There are some scenarios, however, that you never see coming no matter how much you prepare, as one mom found out mid-flight.
Janay Flowers and her 11-month-old daughter Nevaeh were on a flight from Tampa, Florida to San Antonio, Texas to meet Flowers’ husband who is in the United States Air Force, Dallas News reports.
At the start of the flight, Nevaeh began to get a fever, but no one had anticipated where it would go from there.
When the flight was nearly over the struggling little girl started seizing in her frightened mother’s arms.
Out of surprise and desperation, Flowers’ yelled for someone to come help her daughter who was now foaming at the mouth.
As Nevaeh’s feet turned blue, Alvin Dodson and his fiancé Tiffany Lehman rushed to offer their professional assistance.
Dodson, a chiropractor, and Lehman were coming back from a medical conference they had attended together.
“At one point she was on her side and her tongue had gone back to the back of her throat and she had stopped breathing for a couple of seconds,” Lehman told NBC 5.
Lehman is a nurse and knew exactly what to do in that tense situation, quickly removing Nevaeh’s clothes and pulling her tongue out of her airway when she stopped breathing.
Attendants on the eventful flight ran to call for medical assistance, while extending their services to those aiding in Nevaeh’s recovery.
The little girl didn’t have much time if they couldn’t get her temperature down, so that was addressed first, along with giving her oxygen, and checking her pulse often.
Mothers go over many worst case scenarios in their head, and try to plan what the best course of action would be in that situation.
But when you are in the midst of trauma it is hard to perform the way you want, the way you had planned in your head.
I can’t even imagine the fear and dread Flowers must have felt while holding her convulsing, blue baby high above the ground, and away from her support system.
Flowers shares her thoughts on the moment of terror to Dallas News:
“If no one was able to help me on the flight, I don’t know what I could have done for my baby, because I was in shock. I believe that they helped save my baby’s life.”
Emergency medical personnel were standing by when they landed, and rushed Nevaeh and her mother to Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine.
As an act of kindness, one of the American Airline associates went above and beyond to make sure all their luggage was brought to them so they didn’t have that additional stressor.
Along with the luggage was get well wishes from all the airline staff who was there to witness the shocking experience.
Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines did confirm the medical emergency on the flight saying:
“This medical emergency last week highlights the tremendous professionalism of American’s team members, and specifically, in this situation, our flight attendants and DFW team. We are proud of our colleagues and are grateful to them for their quick actions.”
Flowers had family meet her at the hospital to support her during these troubling times.
A cousin came straight to the hospital, and Flowers’ sister flew to Dallas to drive the exhausted mother and daughter to San Antonio after Nevaeh was discharged.
Children are awfully resilient and Nevaeh is no exception.
On the drive to San Antonio, Dallas News reports that Nevaeh was smiling and giggling again.
Her appetite is still low, but doctors don’t suspect any more complications, deeming the seizures were circumstantial from the fever.
To show the helpful flight crew and the couple who came to Nevaeh’s rescue her appreciation, Flowers invited them all to Nevaeh’s first birthday party next month.
It may be awhile at this point until Flowers and her blessed daughter hop aboard another flight but at least they are here to have that option.
Please let us know in the comments section if you have had a scary experience onboard a flight and how you handled it.