At an EMT conference, Stacey Thompson praised the actions of Brandon Porter, an EMT who helped save the life of her daughter during an emergency in 2009. (Photo Courtesy of Susan Jackson, Texas EMS Magazine EMS Exhibits Coordinator) It’s not every day someone gets to speak to a crowd of more than 2,400 people.

Stacey Thmpson had the opportunity to do so in November.

About a year ago, Thompson and her daughter, then 16-month old Kennedy, were running errands in Tyler.

Thompson had just left a store when she glanced at her daughter strapped in a child safety seat in the back seat of her vehicle.

She will never forget seeing Kennedy in the throes of a seizure. Thompson’s first impulse was to pull over and by the time she did so, the seizure had stopped and Kennedy was limp.

Thompson was frantic.

“I have no medical training. I found the nearest intersection, pulled over, got my baby out of the car and started screaming for help,” Thompson later said.

As it happened, Brandon Porter, an offduty EMT for ETMC EMS, was driving by and saw her pleading for help. He approached Thompson and explained what he did for a living.

“She just handed me the baby,” he said.

Porter immediately lifted Kennedy’s head and gently rubbed her sternum while others at the scene called emergency services. Porter continued the process until EMT and other emergency services arrived. By then, Kennedy had started breathing again.

Doctors never determined the cause of the seizure, and today Kennedy appears to be healthy and happy.

“That whole ordeal was very emotional for me and my poor husband, who learned of it as we were on our way to the hospital and I’m sure felt completely helpless,” Thompson later said.

Thompson and her husband, Clay, lost their only son shortly after birth in 2006, so she was especially grateful Porter stopped to help that day.

“I don’t know how to get across to him and the others who stopped, the degree of my gratefulness to them,” Thompson said. “They saved our family from another tragedy.”

In November 2009, Thompson related her story before the large aforementioned crowd gathered at the Texas EMS Conference at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, where Porter received the 2009 EMS Person of the Year award. The award honors EMS-certified personnel who demonstrate “uncommon leadership and courage” in providing emergency care.

Kelly Harrell, editor of the Texas EMS Magazine, contributed to this article.