A Dublin garda whose quick thinking helped save the life of a five-week-old boy has been asked to become his godfather.
Garda Denis Farrell made an emergency dash to hospital in a squad car with John Burnett after his distraught parents ran into Pearse Street station to report that their son had stopped breathing and was turning blue.
Linda and Richard Burnett were driving John to the Coombe Hospital at around 10.30 a.m. last Monday when they realised he was in difficulty.
They rushed from Butt Bridge to Pearse Street station, where Garda Farrell and his colleague, Garda Brendan O'Halloran, bundled mother and child into a squad car which was parked outside.
Garda Farrell then drove to the hospital with the car's lights flashing and its siren and horn sounding, while Ms Burnett held John in her arms in the back seat.
"She kept saying `he's not breathing, he's not breathing'," said Garda Farrell yesterday. "I didn't know whether to pull over or keep driving, but I just kept going."
The journey - which normally takes up to half an hour in midmorning traffic - took only four minutes. John, who had turned an ashen colour, was handed over to hospital staff.
"The doctor took him and ran like a rugby player down the corridor with him," said Garda Farrell. "We were all relieved when the hospital said he was OK. Honest to God, I didn't think he was going to make it. He was just a tiny little bundle."
Ms Burnett (23) last night said hospital staff and the two gardai were heroes for saving John's life. "They are calling John a miracle baby and all, but I am just happy our son made it," she said.
Ms Burnett, speaking from the hospital ward where John is likely to stay for about a week, said she thought her son was dead on arrival at the hospital. "He was literally hanging on by a limb and I think the bouncing of the car kept his heart beating," she said.
"I thought he had a chest infection because he had been throwing up, but it turns out he had a virus that had taken over his whole body and weakened him so much that he couldn't breathe."
Ms Burnett, who also has a 17-month-old daughter, Amy, said she expected John to be christened in hospital.
She explained that he had been due to be christened next Sunday in Donnycarney church, and two godparents had been chosen. She understood that three godparents were allowed and she would be delighted to name Garda Farrell as John's godfather.
Garda Farrell, who was last night celebrating John's health along with Garda O'Halloran, said he would be "honoured" to become a godfather again. "All I did was drive the car. I think it is blown out of all proportion but I was delighted when I heard he was OK," he said.