NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Weeks after he was pulled from a swimming pool in Northeast Miami-Dade and given life-saving CPR, a 2-year-old boy and his parents reunited with those who came to his rescue.
Safe in his father’s arms, Wednesday morning, Raphael reunited with the family friend and paramedics who saved him earlier this month.
“We’re truly grateful for God for the second chance he gave us with our kid,” said the boy’s father.
Just over two weeks ago, Raphael’s parents said, they found the toddler face down in the pool of a home in the area of Northeast 22nd Court and 206th Street.
“He went in the pool,” said his mother, Dina Biton.
“[He was], for approximately four minutes, in the water before family members noticed that [the child was] down,” said a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesperson.
Talya Ben David, a family friend who was at the home, did not waste a moment. A mother herself, she said she knew what needed to be done.
“When I saw what happened; I had her baby in my hands, and I just ran, gave the baby to my husband, and I just did whatever I thought I needed to do in that moment,” she said. “I just started the compressions, and he started to come back and throwing up all the water and, thank God, he was breathing again.”
Raphael was rushed to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, where he spent three days
The heart-stopping save gave this boy a second chance.
The paramedics who responded to this near drowning were presented with awards from Memorial Healthcare System for their quick thinking.
To these first responders, it was just another day on the job.
“It’s a feeling of accomplishment that you can’t describe,” said Andre Roitman, South Florida director of Hatzalah.
To Ben David, it was mother’s intuition.
“I did whatever God sent me to do, I guess,” she said.
To Raphael’s family, it was everything, because their little boy is now OK.
“There are so many other parents that didn’t get as lucky as I did,” said Biton. “Just never give up. Have faith.”
Biton went on to express her gratitude to the medical staff at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital
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