Last year, 36-year-old San Jose, California resident Iria Wolnick was driving through sounthern Texas on a sad mission: she was there to pay her final respects and bury her mother. Just after midnight on July 5, on a lonely desolate highway, Wolnick came across a horrifying accident on U.S. Highway 77. She stopped to help and the scene she came upon is unbelievable. A 2001 Ford Explorer had flipped over and thrown all three of its passengers–a father, a pregnant mother and their 2-year-old daughter.
The mother, 19-year-old Niser Saldana-Quilantan, was in the worst shape and asked Wolnick if her baby was okay, at first Wolnick thought she was referring to the 2-year-old, but then she saw that Saldana-Quilantan's belly was slashed and a crying baby's head and arm were partially sticking out. OMG!
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Wolnick sprang into action and with instinct alone delivered that baby! Emma Lyn Anahi Ortega was born on the side of the road weighing 6 pounds and 11 ounces. Her umbilical cord was tied off with the shoelace of a passing truck driver.
I am so sorry to say that although both the father and 2-year-old survived, Saldana-Quilantan did not. She died on the way to the hospital. I'm so sorry she died and I hope that in passing she knew that her baby girl was alive and well.
On Wednesday, Wolnick was honored in San Jose by both the California Highway Patrol and the Texas Highway Patrol division for her heroism. She downplays the whole heroism aspect and says, "If I was in that situation, I would want someone to do that for me." I agree, I would want somebody to do that for me as well, but the thing is that not everyone would and that's why Wolnick really is a hero.
*Images via YouTube*
