Extreme heat is enough to bring everyone to a standstill. It’s all about napping and reserving energy. Too much movement and you’re down for the count. Time to crank up that AC and sip on a lemonade! And if you’re stuck without AC, you’ve got to come up with some creative ways of cooling down, because just sticking around uncomfortable at home isn’t going to help.
For Alexandria Thieme, she and her 15-month-old son Xavier were struggling on a too-hot-of-a-summer-day, so they opted to leave their house and hit the water. “We were trying to have a good day at the beach and go to the lake and have some fun.” But that’s where things took a turn for the worse.
It was on the way home, Alexandria noticed that Xavier was starting to get cranky. He seemed to be irritable and his temperature was rising. She figured it must have been because of the heat, so she pulled over to a local store to get some cold drinks. She left Xavier in the car with her friend, Austin, and turned up the AC.
As she was checking out, Austin frantically came running in, holding the young child in his arms. Xavier was having a seizure. Alexandria was brought to her knees, holding her son trying to figure out how to handle the situation. “He was shaking, and wouldn’t look at me. He couldn’t talk to me. It was the scariest moment of my life.” In this second that probably felt like an eternity, Alexandria was struck with terror and had no idea what to do amidst the drama and immediate emergency.
Suddenly, two employees came rushing to her rescue. Erica Jones, an employee on duty at the time, saw the panic, but immediately recognized how to handle the situation. “It was my mommy instincts.” Erica’s co-worker has a seizure disorder, so she knew how to handle it by laying him down on one side, and applying a cold washcloth and ice pack on his head to try to lower the temperature – and it worked! The little boy was sent to the hospital in an ambulance, and doctors think that his fever could have been caused by a virus. The day in the sun caused him to overheat, and then seize up. Alexandria is so thankful for the brave employees who helped her and saved her son’s life!
Click below to hear how Xavier’s life was saved by two guardian angels.
