HALLANDALE BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida boy’s community welcomed him back home after he spent months in the hospital following heart transplant surgery.
The family of 1-year-old Branden has a lot to celebrate after he returned to his Hallandale Beach community.
“His heart almost stopped,” Brandy Charles, his mother, said. “My baby wouldn’t be here if, you know, he wasn’t in the hospital so long. If he didn’t get a new heart, he wouldn’t be here today. His first transplant was the artificial heart transplant. Exactly a month later, he got the real heart transplant. He’s been in there for four months, and I finally got my baby back.”
In July, the toddler suffered a heart attack in his home. The family called paramedics, but Anthony McPhee, Branden’s uncle, was the first to arrive at the scene.
“He started having episodes, and I was called,” McPhee said. “I got the call, and I was nearby, so I started giving him chest compressions first, and it didn’t work, yet, so then I started doing mouth-to-mouth, and I revived him.”
McPhee said he has been taking CPR classes for a while due to his job on the water, but when he got the call about his nephew, he said everything changed.
“If I wasn’t here, the outcome would’ve been a lot more complex,” he said.
Sadly, this is something Branden is no stranger to.
“Every time something happens with him, I always call paramedics, and that last time was it,” Charles said. “God was like, ‘You know, I’m going to take him, and I’m going to take care of him, you know? He’s been through so much. He had surgery on his head, you know. He had brain bleeds. He had strokes, and he’s still here looking like this — as beautiful as I am.”
Now that Branden is back home and slowly still recovering, those paramedics who saved his life treated him to a heartwarming homecoming.
“Glad to be here,” a first responder said. “BSO and Hallandale Beach working together to serve the citizens, help and save the life of a young man who’s going to come forward and lead the world.”
His family said they are forever grateful for all the paramedics did.
“I really, really appreciate you,” Charles said. “Thank you so very much.”
“You’re very welcome,” the first responder said. “I’m so glad we can help.”
McPhee, who initially did CPR on his nephew, said he has no plans on getting into the medical field, but being knowledgeable on how to properly administer it made a huge difference.
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