Dr. George Alkhouri knew his patients Alyssa Stanghellini and her preborn baby boy needed him immediately. When a car crashed into his on the way to the hospital, the help of a police officer allowed Dr. Alkhouri to get to Stanghellini and baby Bradley just in time.
According to KCRA, Stanghellini went into labor on July 2, but Bradley’s heartbeat was dangerously low. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. “It was just a whirlwind,” said Stanghellini. “I was in a lot of pain, so I was just looking for relief and hoping everything would be OK.”
Alkhouri had been monitoring Stanghellini’s progress from his home, about 10 minutes from Dignity Hospital in Merced, California. When he learned what was happening, he set out for the hospital. “I found the baby in a lot of stress and there is a need to take the baby and deliver him immediately,” he explained.
But as he made his way, he saw headlights coming at him. He tried to veer out of the way, but the other car sideswiped the driver’s side of his sedan. “And all the glass just shattered and came at my face, on my hand,” he said.
He got out of his car to check on the other driver. Though his phone had broken in the crash, it allowed him to call 911. A police officer arrived and loaned Alkhouri his phone to call the charge nurse. When the police officer heard him talking, he rushed Alkhouri to the hospital just in time to help — but Alkhouri was injured.
“I wasn’t thinking about the pain in my leg, or the blood on my face, or my hand,” he said. “Just, all I’m thinking, how am I going to get there and how I’m going to deliver this baby?”
READ: HEROIC: 911 dispatcher, officers help revive baby born unresponsive on roadside
Once at the hospital he went into action, adrenaline keeping him from really feeling the pain he was in. “I was standing on only one leg when I was doing the surgery,” he said. “The nurses helped me out, take some pieces of glass from my face, and I went back to the accident scene.”
Recently, Alkhouri met with Stanghellini and baby Bradley, who is now two weeks old and serves as a reminder to him of why he chose to be an OB/GYN. “I’m so happy to see Alyssa and her baby, healthy and together,” he said. “This gives me more push to do it again, honestly.”
Stanghellini said she is grateful to Alkhouri for his sacrifices to help her son. The world needs more doctors like Alkhouri, who see the value of preborn children’s lives and do whatever it takes to save and care for those lives.
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