Cheryl Davis believes the series of events that saved daughter Sade Davis' life after a near-deadly car accident left her submerged underwater is nothing short of a miracle.
Sade Davis, 23, who is seven and a half months pregnant, was on her way to Silver Spring from her home in Clinton the morning of Oct. 24 when her car slid off the road, hit at least one tree and flipped into a creek near the 8900 block of Temple Hills Road, her mother said.
Sade Davis had no pulse and was not breathing when emergency responders pried her out of her car, but she suffered no serious, long-term injury except for some short-term memory loss the last thing she said she remembers is her baby shower on Oct. 17 and a gash on her head.
She was released from Washington Hospital Center on Oct. 28 and is recuperating at home with her parents, Cheryl and Jerome Davis, and sister, Jenia Davis.
"I'm doing great," Sade Davis said. "I'm in a little pain, but I'm just glad I can feel the pain."
The baby, a boy who is due Dec. 9, is also fine, she added.
Cheryl Davis said Monday her daughter is continuing her recovery and is doing well.
On Oct. 24, firefighters and paramedics from the Clinton Fire/EMS Station were en route to another medical emergency call on the 8700 block of Temple Hill Road when an unidentified passer-by flagged them down. The man said he had seen a car go off the road and into a nearby creek.
"You couldn't see the vehicle from the road," said Dave Wilson of Severn, a firefighter and paramedic who was on the scene. "You couldn't tell at first someone was in there."
Sade Davis has no memory of the accident, but responders believe she likely lost control of her car on a sharp turn made slick by recent rain.
Wilson, along with fellow Clinton station responders Wesley Auld, Lt. Dale Giampetroni and Derian Whitted, ran down the embankment to assess the scene after requesting another vehicle to handle the original call.
Giampetroni, who lives in Silver Spring, said after testing the car's stability and the water's depth, she climbed onto the vehicle while Whitted and Auld jumped into the waist-deep water and began pounding on the doors.
"We just all seemed to click," Giampetroni said.
Sade Davis' entire upper body was underwater and she was entangled in her seat belt, so rescuers did not realize she was pregnant at first. Whitted, of Landover, said he grew emotional when they finally freed her from the car since he is a soon-to-be-father.
"It kind of took a toll on me, but I gathered myself together," he said.
Davis was blue in the face and not breathing when they pulled her out of the water. Auld, of Mechanicsville, said he has never responded to a person in her condition who survived.
However, he said they continued performing CPR and were shocked when she began to breathe on her own again in the ambulance.
"To see her walking and talking is just beyond words," Auld said.
In a written statement, Prince George's County Fire Chief Eugene A. Jones praised the responders:
"This is a story that involves true heroes that risked a lot to save a lot. Their actions are highly commendable and speak highly of themselves and the entire Fire/EMS Department."
Davis was taken to Southern Maryland Hospital and later transported to Washington Hospital Center.
"My husband and I were continually praying and praying and praying," Cheryl Davis said.
By the day after the crash, she said, it was clear she would be all right.
Davis will spend the next few weeks recovering before returning to her job at Georgetown University Hospital. The Surrattsville High School graduate is taking time off from Howard University but said she plans to complete her degree after she gives birth.
"I'm just so thankful that [emergency responders] were there to do something," Cheryl Davis said. "I couldn't hug them enough."