A woman in Florida recently welcomed a healthy baby girl just hours after a good Samaritan saved her life by pulling her from a submerged vehicle.
Shedly Appolon was driving on Interstate 95 in Florida on Feb. 6, her 29th birthday, when she said she became dizzy and lost control of her car, crashing into a pond.
"I tried to open my driver side door and the passenger door, but they were both submerged in water, so I couldn't get out," Appolon told ABC West Palm Beach station WPBF-TV.
At the same time, a passerby saw Appolon's car go into the pond and jumped into action, swimming approximately 30 feet to approach the vehicle, where he encountered the pregnant driver and was able to open her door, according to a Facebook post from the Martin County Fire Rescue Department.
Appolon said the rescuer, identified by WPBF-TV as Logan Hayes, swung open the back door of her car just as she began to panic.
"When he swung that door open, I just said, like, 'OK, you are an angel,'" she recounted.
Hayes told WPBF-TV that he did not realize the driver he was rescuing was pregnant until he started to pull her back to shore.
"She landed in the water next to me, and I grabbed her around her hips just to hold it, because I didn't know what or where she was going to go, like, what was going to happen, if she could swim," he recalled. "So, when I was holding her, that's when I realized she was pregnant, because obviously I was wrapped around her and could feel her stomach."
Hayes was able to safely pull Appolon to shore, where they were met by rescue crews who transported Appolon to a local hospital with "serious injuries," according to authorities.
Dr. David Rubay, chief of trauma and general surgery at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, where Appolon was subsequently treated, told ABC News the hospital was informed Appolon had a medical emergency, became dizzy and lost control of the car for a period of time before crashing into the pond.
Once Appolon arrived at the hospital, Rubay said the medical team decided it was necessary to deliver the baby via cesarean section that day.
Appolon gave birth at 33 weeks, according to Rubay, welcoming her newborn daughter on her own birthday.
Both Appolon and her newborn are in good health, Rubay said.
