Florida household reunites with first responders who saved 4-year-old
Florida’s Collier County Emergency Medical Providers honored first responders Tuesday in the course of the Phoenix Awards ceremony on the native library, recognizing extraordinary lifesaving efforts throughout the county.Amongst these honored had been the EMS crews who helped save the lifetime of 4-year-old Victor Valdez Jr., who survived a near-drowning in his household’s pool in February.Victor’s mom, Lilmary Delgado, stated her son was clinically useless for half-hour. Ten months later, she thanked the very responders who introduced him again.“Thanks guys, for all the pieces you probably did for my son,” Delgado stated.Delgado described the second she realized how shut she got here to shedding her youngster.“I believe that is the worst expertise a mum or dad can undergo, seeing your son lifeless on the ground, and you are feeling such as you can’t do something to deliver him again from that,” she stated.It was Victor’s older sister who first discovered him within the water. His father, Victor Valdez Sr., pulled him out and instantly started CPR.“I did not surrender. I didn’t cease doing CPR on him till the EMS obtained there and so they took over. However it’s simply one thing I would not want upon anyone,” he stated.One of many EMS lieutenants who responded to Victor’s name, Moises Galicia, was amongst these honored on the Phoenix Awards. “It is a very emotional name. It may be very hectic, not simply clearly for us as responders, however for the mother and father and all people going via it. It is just like the worst day of their life. So what goes via my head is I must hold myself tempered so I can make sure that all people else is tempered,” Galicia stated.Whereas Victor continues to recuperate, his mom says that whereas he might by no means be the identical, she stays deeply grateful for a second probability.“I imagine that gratitude and grief can coexist collectively,” Delgado stated. “The son that I had died that day. I’ve a brand new son, however he isn’t much less cherished. If something, he is extra cherished.” By the numbers, from January via June 2025, Collier County EMS responded to 258 cardiac arrests. Thirty-six p.c of these sufferers achieved a return of spontaneous circulation, far above the nationwide common of lower than 10%.A complete of 190 first responders had been acknowledged at Tuesday’s ceremony for his or her contributions to those lifesaving outcomes.
Florida’s Collier County Emergency Medical Providers honored first responders Tuesday in the course of the Phoenix Awards ceremony on the native library, recognizing extraordinary lifesaving efforts throughout the county.
Amongst these honored had been the EMS crews who helped save the lifetime of 4-year-old Victor Valdez Jr., who survived a near-drowning in his household’s pool in February.
Victor’s mom, Lilmary Delgado, stated her son was clinically useless for half-hour.
Ten months later, she thanked the very responders who introduced him again.
“Thanks guys, for all the pieces you probably did for my son,” Delgado stated.
Delgado described the second she realized how shut she got here to shedding her youngster.
“I believe that is the worst expertise a mum or dad can undergo, seeing your son lifeless on the ground, and you are feeling such as you can’t do something to deliver him again from that,” she stated.
It was Victor’s older sister who first discovered him within the water. His father, Victor Valdez Sr., pulled him out and instantly started CPR.
“I did not surrender. I didn’t cease doing CPR on him till the EMS obtained there and so they took over. However it’s simply one thing I would not want upon anyone,” he stated.
One of many EMS lieutenants who responded to Victor’s name, Moises Galicia, was amongst these honored on the Phoenix Awards.
“It is a very emotional name. It may be very hectic, not simply clearly for us as responders, however for the mother and father and all people going via it. It is just like the worst day of their life. So what goes via my head is I must hold myself tempered so I can make sure that all people else is tempered,” Galicia stated.
Whereas Victor continues to recuperate, his mom says that whereas he might by no means be the identical, she stays deeply grateful for a second probability.
“I imagine that gratitude and grief can coexist collectively,” Delgado stated. “The son that I had died that day. I’ve a brand new son, however he isn’t much less cherished. If something, he is extra cherished.”
By the numbers, from January via June 2025, Collier County EMS responded to 258 cardiac arrests. Thirty-six p.c of these sufferers achieved a return of spontaneous circulation, far above the nationwide common of lower than 10%.
A complete of 190 first responders had been acknowledged at Tuesday’s ceremony for his or her contributions to those lifesaving outcomes.
