A New York mother recalled the scary moment her son had no pulse.
Maria Carlin, 36, of Long Island told the New York Post, ABC7 New York and NBC 4 New York about how doctors and nurses brought her 4-year-old son, Jack, back to life last year after he stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest without a heartbeat.
The mom remembered Jack waking up in pain from a cough, before she drove him to Huntington Hospital to get medical help in July 2024.
"All of a sudden, it sounded like he was breathing through a coffee straw, he was squeaking like a mouse," Maria told ABC7 of what happened before Jack stopped breathing during the drive to the hospital.
"I just heard him fall forward in his car seat," she added, before describing her thought process. "Do I continue driving, knowing that every minute that passes is another minute ... closer to permanent brain damage?"
Maria kept driving instead of stopping to perform CPR on her child. At the hospital, doctors and nurses then got to work.
"I brought in a dead child, and they brought him back to life," Maria told NBC 4, also recalling that Jack "turned to me and he said, 'Mommy, why didn't you want me to go to heaven?' "
Jack was then transferred to Cohen Children's Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a rare condition known as laryngeal cleft.
Cleveland Clinic describes this as an abnormal opening in the tissues between a "child's larynx (voice box) and esophagus (food pipe)," which can "cause choking, wheezing, coughing and breathing problems."
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Jack made a full recovery after surgery last year, and the family visited Huntington Hospital this month to thank the people who saved him.
"Thank you so much," Jack told doctors and nurses, per NBC 4.