The boy thought to be the youngest child in the United Kingdom to survive after being born outside of a hospital setting is searching for the paramedic who saved his life. Laura Kandziorra was just 25 weeks 4 days pregnant when she unexpectedly gave birth to her son Matthew in August 2007. He weighed just 1.5 pounds at birth, according to the Yorkshire Post. After the paramedics arrived, they quickly whisked Matthew to the hospital — but it was the work of one paramedic that made the difference.
“The paramedic cut the umbilical cord and took me to the ambulance; unfortunately, on the short way to the hospital, I stopped breathing and died,” explained Matthew. “But luckily the same heroic paramedic did CPR and saved my life. After all these years, I can’t stop thinking about this paramedic. I would like to find him and thank him.”
READ: Preemie delivered at 24 weeks to save her mother’s life is thriving six months
Matthew’s father, Dawid, said that while the paramedic arrived at the hospital the next day to check in on the family, they never caught the man’s name and would like to see him again. “He is a hero. He saved my son’s life. If I could see him I would say thank you,” he said.
Matthew needed a blood transfusion and he ended up staying at the hospital for four months, but today’s he’s a happy 14-year-old boy. He told the Yorkshire Evening Post, “All the doctors from St James’s Hospital said that it was a miracle that I survived and that from the information they have I am probably the only child in the whole UK born so early outside the hospital who survived – definitely the only one in Leeds until 2007.”
Today, Matthew hasn’t let the fact that he has cerebral palsy and some developmental delays slow him down. He says he wants his story to “give strength to others to fight and never give up.”
“When I was born I weighed only 720 grammes and no one gave me a chance to live,” he said. “However, today I weigh 48kg and I am 14 years old and even though I am struggling with cerebral palsy, I’m still so happy and enjoy every single day of my life.”
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