Hero Store Clerk Catches Baby As Mom Collapses
This store clerk stepped in to help a mom who was having a seizure
If ever you’re in an emergency situation with your kids in tow, just hope there’s someone like this Colorado store clerk around. She’s being hailed a hero after saving a baby from a dangerous fall as her mother had an unexpected seizure.
Suerveillance video at a gas station in Arvada, Colorado, shows a young woman paying for some items with her baby in her arms. The woman and the store clerk, who’s been identified as Rebecca Montano, are chatting happily, but all of the sudden, something changes. The mom appears to stare off into the distance, even though the clerk is still talking to her. A few seconds later, she begins to slump over and fall down.
Montano says she instinctively reached out to grab the baby, just as the mom started to lose her balance. “I was talking to the baby and she — the girl — had a glazed look on her face,” Montano told KUSA. “I wasn’t sure, I felt uneasy about it. I was asking her ‘is everything ok,’ I grabbed the baby’s arm and she started to sway, she wouldn’t answer me.”
Montano saved the baby and managed to keep the mom semi-upright for a few seconds before she inevitably dropped to the floor. After securing the baby, Montano yelled to an approaching customer for help and he raced around the counter to hold the infant while she called 911. The dispatcher talked her through how to care for the woman until paramedics could arrive.
It turns out the mom had a seizure, and she says they’ve happened off and on since she was a little girl. She’s reportedly doing well and even returned to the store to thank Montano for saving her baby, but the clerk says she was just trusting her gut. “I’m a mother, I’m a grandmother. It’s motherly instinct to worry about children,” she says. “I just wanted to save the baby from getting hurt, if she would’ve fallen with the baby in her arms, who knows where that baby would’ve landed?”
She may not think she’s worthy of being called a hero, but Montano really did display some superior grace under pressure here. Most people in her shoes would’ve been a panicked wreck. Instead, she stayed calm and collected the entire time, despite telling KUSA afterwards that the entire ordeal was deeply upsetting. “Every time I watch the clip I shake because I don’t like it,” she says. “It brings tears to my eyes.”
It’s scary to think about something like this happening when you’re out with your kids, but the truth is emergencies can happen to anyone. Thank goodness there are kind, quick-thinking people like Montano out there to save the day.
