A 4-year-old boy is alive today one year after a terrifying run-in with death and a mother’s decision that may have saved his life. In July 2024, Long Island resident Maria Carlin decided to take her son Jack to the hospital. He had awoken in the middle of the night struggling with what appeared to be a croup-like cough that had progressed to the point where he was now struggling to breath. It was just a 10-minute drive from their home to Huntington Hospital in Suffolk County, but Carlin found herself making an impossible choice during the ride.

“Picture breathing through a milkshake straw, then breathing through a regular straw, then trying to breathe through a coffee straw. We got to a point where I said to myself, ‘It doesn’t get higher-pitched. … I know what comes next.’ [His breathing] just stopped,” Carlin told The New York Post. Carlin, a nurse, now had an impossible decision to make: pull over and begin CPR on Jack, or continue to the hospital to get him more advanced medical attention. Feeling that Jack would need to be intubated, Carlin made the decision to keep going to the ER. “I heard him slump over. I went to look back, and God said, ‘Maria, don’t look back. You made your decision. You’re not going to be able to handle seeing him right now.’ Knowing that you have a child in the back of your car who’s not breathing and needs CPR and not doing that for them — I don’t wish that scenario on my worst enemy,” said an emotional Carlin.

When Carlin frantically arrived at the hospital honking her horn, Jack was already turning blue. ER doctor Jennifer Gibb led the team that worked on Jack for ten minutes before he was revived. Gibb described the emotional moment to a local station. “The mom started cheering him on, saying ‘C’mon Jack,’ and then it hit me — that human emotion. I got choked up because my own son’s name is Jack.” Jack was transferred to Cohen Children’s Hospital, where it was discovered he had a very rare condition called a laryngeal cleft. It creates a separation between the trachea and esophagus. Surgery has since corrected the issue.

One year after the harrowing incident, Jack was able to thank the team that saved his life. “I brought in a dead child, and they brought him back to life,” said Carlin. The family took a celebratory trip to Disney World after the incident. Jack is now a healthy and thriving 4-year-old. According to The Post, Jack enjoyed the Disney World Slinky ride and loves being in school.