A newborn baby’s life was saved by a woman in North Carolina who heard cries coming from a trash bin in her neighborhood. She found the baby, covered in blood, in a garbage bag with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.
It was unclear exactly how long the newborn had endured the outdoor heat on July 16. The baby boy survived, however. “I know God put me at that place at that time,” said Cynthia Burton, who was walking her dog Flounder at the time.
Burton was cutting behind Christ Community Church in Wilmington when she heard crying coming from a blue bin in the church’s parking lot, WECT reported. She looked inside, ripped open a tied garbage bag, and found the abandoned baby.
“I knew he was alive when I found him,” Burton explained, “and I knew that was a good thing. But I knew I didn’t have a lot a lot of time.”
Christ Community Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, where Cynthia Burton found the abandoned baby on July 16, 2020 Screenshot/Google Maps
She called 911 and then sought help from Tamara Austin, a local apartment resident, who loosened the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck and cleared the baby’s airway, WWAY, reported. First responders arrived and transferred the baby to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
Austin praised Burton as “the hero that saved his life.”
Wilmington Police Department later posted an update on Facebook. “Drs. say the newborn found earlier today is healthy and doing well,” the post read. “Police are looking for the mother of a newborn boy who was left for dead in a trash can just before 5pm this afternoon.”
Illustration - Drew Horne/Shutterstock
North Carolina’s Safe Surrender Law states that any parent has the right to relinquish an infant to a first responder, social worker, or health care provider within seven days of the birth if they are unable to take care of the child with no ramifications. For the surrender to be legitimate, however, the infant must be handed to an adult and not left unaccompanied.
Burton admitted that she didn’t sleep the night after the shocking discovery. “Every time I closed my eyes, I felt that I was reopening the trash bag and seeing the baby,” she shared.
“He’s special,” Burton added. “He was loved from the very beginning ... He’s very powerful and very strong because he cried out to live, and if I had walked by and not heard a sound, I’d have kept on walking, but he cried, and he kept on crying.”
Two days after the baby’s abandonment, 21-year-old Maryuri Estefany Calix-Macedo was arrested and charged with attempted murder, WECT reported.
“It is very overwhelming, but God placed me there at the right time, and with my training and with angels surrounding me, it is a great outcome,” Burton posted on Facebook.
She added, “Please pray for the little girl, the baby, the mother, and her entire family. None of us walked in her shoes when she did what she did. Mental health is real, and there is help out there for everyone.”
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Louise Chambers
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Louise Chambers is a writer, born and raised in London, England. She covers inspiring news and human interest stories.
