Mom: 'Miracle' my baby survived SUV
By Lisa Kocian
Globe Staff
There should be more stories like this.
The tears shed in the LaFauci home Wednesday were of relief not regret. It almost turned out much differently.
Last week Rachel LaFauci accidentally rolled her Ford Expedition on top of her 22-month-old daughter, Sophia. Today, mother and daughter giggled and played together in their Waltham home. Doctors released Sophia from the hospital Monday, telling the LaFaucis their daughter was just fine.
“She’s perfect,” said Rachel LaFauci, surrounded by flowers and balloons from well wishers. “It’s just … some miracle.”
LaFauci said she was getting ready for a trip last Thursday when she told her three daughters, Sophia and 4-year-old twins Cassia and Christina, to stay in the living room while she went to the garage to move her sports utility vehicle so she could pack it.
The 5,500 pound SUV had been backed into the garage. LaFauci said she rolled the vehicle forward toward the garage door, to make more room behind the SUV.
There was no impact or sound, said LaFauci, and she still doesn’t know what made her turn around as she started to walk back into the house.
“I saw her legs,” she said. “I saw a lifeless child, no crying, no breathing.”
Sophia’s lower abdomen was pinned under the front tire, said LaFauci.
LaFauci said she quickly jumped back into her SUV. She remembers making a sound that she demonstrated as half gasp and half scream as she told herself to focus. She didn’t want to roll forward by mistake. She wanted to move in reverse to get the car off her daughter.
“I focused on the ‘R,’” she said. “I knew I needed to stay calm. I didn’t want to make the situation worse.”
After she rolled the SUV off her daughter, LaFauci said she turned the ignition off and ran to Sophia. There were tire tracks on her legs, said LaFauci, and she thought her legs were shattered.
“I immediately screamed her name,” said LaFauci. “She was completely purple and lifeless.”
But then something happened that maybe no one will ever quite explain.
Sophia breathed. And she said, “Mommy,” according to LaFauci.
“I grabbed her [and] put her close to my body,” said LaFauci, who ran straight to the kitchen to call 911.
She stayed on the phone with the dispatcher, holding Sophia, until she heard sirens coming.
“I ran out the front door and put her down on the grass,” said LaFauci.
The first responders cut off Sophia’s clothes and started to work on her. LaFauci said she tried to stay out of their way. She was kneeling on the lawn, near them, crying as a neighbor came over to comfort her and to call her husband, Anthony LaFauci.
Another neighbor saw the twins watching the chaos from an upstairs window and went to look after them, she said.
Sophia was whisked away by ambulance to the Fernald Developmental Center, and then medflighted to Boston Medical Center.
Rachel LaFauci was composed as she told her story, while trying to fix a barrette for one of the twins and negotiating with a vibrant and healthy-looking Sophia, who wanted to go outside to play.
It isn’t until she recalled being at the hospital that she broke down. Soon after the LaFaucis arrived, one of the medical staff came out and said, "Well, we know she likes Dora.”
Her daughter was healthy enough to tell the nurses about Dora the Explorer, the famous cartoon character. “That was the best thing I could have heard,” LaFauci recalled, through tears.
After about 24 hours and many tests, doctors assured the family that Sophia was fine, but they kept her for observation. When Sophia was discharged Monday, the first stop, even before going home, was to thank the Waltham Fire and Police Departments for their help.
Waltham Deputy Chief Tom MacInnis said Sophia’s story was a rare happy ending.
"Children are pretty amazing what they can go through sometimes and go unharmed, and this was one of those -- pretty much a miracle,” said MacInnis.
Although he was not on the scene, he reported that Sophia’s condition was consistent with the circumstances her mother described.
The LaFaucis said doctors gave them no explanation as to how their daughter survived.
“There’s no medical explanation. There’s no logical explanation as to how she recovered like this,” said Anthony LaFauci.
The LaFaucis have been upset by negative comments on blogs from people who are critical of Rachel.
Anthony LaFauci defended his wife: “It was completely a freak accident. It could’ve happened to anyone.”
According to KidsandCars.org, a national safety advocacy group based in Kansas, more than 2,400 children visit the emergency room each year from being struck by or rolled over by a vehicle backing up; at least two are fatally injured on a weekly basis.
In March, a 22-month old girl from Peabody suffered serious head injuries when her father accidentally backed his car over her.
Anthony LaFauci expressed gratitude to his family, friends, neighbors and to the medical staff who attended to Sophia.
“I can’t begin to say enough about the staff at Boston Medical. Unbelievable. Great. Name a positive adjective and that was them,” he said. “A heart-felt thank you to all of the emergency personnel. They were here. They took care of my baby.”
Anthony LaFauci said he has been reminded to “appreciate what you have.”
“We were given a second chance and we’re going to take it,” he said.
Globe correspondent Matt Rocheleau contributed to this report. Lisa Kocian can be reached at lkocian@globe.com.
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