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American Morning
Woman Discusses Dog That Saved Child's Life
Aired May 17, 2002 - 09:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Pam Sica's (ph) dog is a golden retriever. His name is Bullet. He is old; for a dog, he's really old: He's 15.
Earlier this month, the family's faithful companion proved to be wise beyond his many years. Bullet literally became a lifesaver: He alerted Pam that something was wrong with their baby son, Troy. She checked, and the baby had stopped breathing. Pam called 911.
They rushed Troy to the hospital, where he spent two weeks recovering from pneumonia in the hospital recovering from pneumonia in both lungs.
Just this week, he came back home. He's with Mom, Dad, and, of course, with Bullet, the family to whom he owes his life. Bullet himself lucky to be alive; we'll tell that story in just a moment.
We're delighted to have Pam Sica (ph) with us this morning, along with Troy and Bullet, who could care less -- he's very tired.
Pam, welcome. It's nice to have you on the program.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, how are you?
CAFFERTY: I'm good.
Tell us how Bullet was acting that fateful morning when, as we said, he saved your son's life. What did he do to alert you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the kitchen making the bottle. He was in the bedroom with my son. And and my husband and I woke -- woke my husband up. He went into the shower. Bullet was still lying down. And I guess when the baby was making the sounds, he comes running down the hallway into the kitchen. And he kept barking, and I was still making the bottle. And I asked him if he wanted to go out, and he kept barking and turning around and going into the hallway -- turning around going into the hallway.
Then I finally went into the bedroom, and that's where I found my son. And he had his head back, and he was gasping for air. With that, he was turning a shade of red to, like, purple to blue.
And I screamed for my husband. He came out of the shower. And with that, he turned the baby upside down, thought that I fed him. So he thought he was choking. So he hit him a couple of times on the back. And it didn't do anything, and he turned him around and started to rub his chest and do CPR.
With that, I called 911. They were there within minutes, and the EMS was here. And by then, with Troy still doing CPR, the baby came around, and from there, the paramedics and the ambulance took him to Brookhaven Hospital, where they stabilized him. And then he went into another episode where they stabilized him.
CAFFERTY: Did you have any idea the baby had pneumonia at this point? You didn't know, did you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I didn't know what it was. I actually thought he had apnea or the SIDS.
CAFFERTY: Yes, right, sleep apnea?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I had no idea what it was. Nobody really knew until they brought him into Stony Brook Hospital, where they later did some tests and found out that he had double pneumonia and ASD, a hole in his heart.
CAFFERTY: Are you convinced the dog saved the child's life? You said your husband's in the shower, you were in the kitchen, and he baby stopped breathing. Had it not been for Bullet, are you convinced you could have lost the child right then?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am. Because I would have been dillydallying, putting stuff in the dishwasher.
CAFFERTY: Sure, it's 4:30 in the morning. You're doing your chores and stuff. There's no way you're going to hear the baby stop breathing or start having trouble, right?
What was it, do you suppose, about the dog that made him do this? I mean, there are mysteries surrounding animals that I guess none of us are able to explain completely. But they know things that we simply don't know, don't they?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He knew it was his baby. He knew it belonged to me, and he was protecting his baby.
CAFFERTY: Take us back a few years. I mentioned the dog was lucky to be alive. A few years ago, the veterinarian discovered a tumor on Bullet's liver, and you had to borrow a bunch of money to have the dog operated on. Tell me a little about that and the fact that some people thought you were crazy to spend this kind of money to save a dog's life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We took him for his regular checkup, and the vet found that he had an irregular heartbeat. From there, they ran tests and they did blood work. And they found that his liver enzymes were elevated from there. And from there, they did a sonogram, and they found like a pea-sized tumor in the liver. But they were afraid to operate just then, because they didn't know if his heart can take the anesthesia. So we waited until September, and by then, they did another ultrasound, and the tumor grew to the size of a softball. And they told me that it's a situation where you have to decide because he is you know 12- or 13-years-old -- I forgot at the time -- you have to make that decision, and I didn't know what to do. I said he's been a part of my life for all these years, and there's no way I was going just to let him go.
CAFFERTY: So you borrowed the $5,000, got the surgery done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came through with...
CAFFERTY: I can't tell you what a story it is. I have got dogs and cats in my house. I've had them all my life. I have feeling for animals that exceed the ones I have a lot of the people I've encountered along the way. A story like this just affirms that I'm right.
What about a special reward. Does Bullet get a special treat now, besides a perpetual nap that it looks like he's taking there?
He gets steak dinners and chicken, right?
CAFFERTY: Anything he wants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know that we're talking about you, don't you?
CAFFERTY: He heard the word "steak."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did anyway.
He was my first baby, right?
CAFFERTY: Yes, really.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was my first baby.
CAFFERTY: Pam, thanks a lot for your time this morning. We have to run. Good luck to you and Bullet and to Troy and your family. It's a great story. Appreciate you being with us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.
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