7 News Features: Home for the Holidays

Shanika Ramdas: "We're going home! Home sweet home!"

WSVN -- Shouts of joy from the Ramdas family, as this mother and father finally take their baby boy home from the hospital.

Steven Ramdas: "I've seen him go through so many struggles already at such a young age."

Just last month, 4-month-old Jasiah gave his mother a huge scare.

Shanika Ramdas: "He was gone. He wasn't breathing. He was blue, as blue as this blanket."

Alone in a parking lot, the mother started screaming out for help. Miraculously, just the right person would hear her desperate cries.

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky: "I'm walking out of my doctor's appointment with my wife. I saw a mother who was frantically screaming for help."

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky, a pediatric critical care doctor who was actually off duty at the time, sprang into action.

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky: "I saw it was a life-threatening situation. I started to breathe for the baby and we started some chest compressions. I started breathing into the baby's airways."

The doctor even rode to the hospital with Baby Jasiah, and fortunately was able to resuscitate the child.

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky: "I would say that in fact we did save the baby's life."

But in all the chaos, after arriving at the hospital, the Ramdas family didn't get to say thank you to the man who saved their son.

Shanika Ramdas: "I like to refer to him as a angel, at the right place at the right time to help us. My words to the staff: 'One day I hope we will get to meet this doctor and tell him thank you'."

Call it fate, or even divine intervention, but the family would come in contact with their angel again.

 Jasiah was later transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. And guess who was introduced as his doctor.

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky: "I recognized the baby, but couldn't place where I had seen this baby before. I started taking Shanika's history. She started describing to me the series of events that led to having her baby in the hospital in the first place. I quickly put two and two together."

Shanika Ramdas: "He said, 'Do you know who that doctor was?' He said, 'That doctor was me!' My husband lifted him off the floor. It was just so emotional. I hugged and kissed him."

They all agree. They received the gift of a miracle meeting.

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky: "The chances of walking into that circumstance in the first place are pretty unique, but then to have the same circumstance, to come in contact with that family once again..."

Now, after weeks of Dr. Lavandosky and his staff taking care of Jasiah, the baby boy is well, and headed home just in time for the holidays.

Shanika Ramdas: "It's a sweet moment. I'm overwhelmed with joy. He is a miracle baby."

Steven Ramdas: "We couldn't be celebrating the holidays without him, and knowing he is here, is better than any Christmas gift that you can get."

Sister: "I'll just hug him up."

Hugs and all, it will always be a holiday to remember.

Doctors say the baby was having breathing problems due to being born premature. He has had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

The family says they plan to send the doctor pictures as Jasiah grows up.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Dr. Gerald Lavandosky

Jdch Pediatric Critical Care Unit

3501 Johnson Street

Hollywood, FL 33021

Tel: 954-265-5970

Fax: 954-965-6423

Website:

http://www.pccsf.com