A Garland couple is warning parents about the dangers of leaving kids in hot cars.
"It can happen to you," said Eric Stuyvesant. "I was the guy that spent an awful lot of time beating up on the internet parents that bad things happen to."
Distracted by a change in their morning routine, Stuyvesant left his then-3-year-old son, Michael, asleep in the back seat of the car when he returned home on June 10, 2015.
The temperature that morning was in the mid-80s, but quickly rose much higher inside the car.
"It dawned on me about an hour and 20 minutes after I'd gotten home, I haven't been to the babysitter," said Stuyvesant. "That's a horrifying feeling."
The father of seven children ran outside to save his youngest.
He said Michael's breathing was labored, his eyes had turned gray and his lips were starting to turn blue.
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"That was when I picked him up and we ran in the house," Stuyvesant remembered. "That was the only thing I could think to do is take the coldest shower possible, anything to get the heat out of him."
Michael spent five weeks in the hospital, and made a full recovery.
"The doctors were telling us this is a miracle baby because this doesn't happen," said Stuyvesant.
"It's beyond a gift," said Stuyvesant. "This is salvation."
"We were so close to losing him," he added. "We walked to the doorstep of death and were able to step back."
"There's moments every single day when you pause and you realize this could have been a totally different situation," said mother Michelle Stuyvesant.
She urged parents to check the back seat every time, even when you know you don't have your kids with you and you are positive they are not there.
"Look in the back seat just to make sure, because the moment that you think you're safe could be the moment that you're not," she said.
"That moment can get away from you, and if you're not fortunate – as fortunate as we were – you're going to live with the consequences for the rest of your life," said Eric Stuyvesant.
For more information on how to prevent heat stroke in hot cars, visit KidsAndCars.org.
