Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993 TAG: 9312170132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: POWHATAN LENGTH: Medium
Barlow, a trucker from Powhatan, discovered an abandoned newborn under the wheels of his tractor-trailer last Friday night near Hershey, Pa.
The hours-old boy was rushed to Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where emergency room doctors elevated the baby's body temperature from 68 degrees to the normal 100 degrees for a newborn.
The baby was in fair condition in the hospital's neonatal unit.
"This Christmas will mean more to me than in the past," Barlow said. "It's emotional to me, now that he will live to see Christmas.
"I thank the good Lord that I went out and found him."
Barlow always checks his truck before he goes to bed, and he followed that routine Friday at a Holiday Inn in Grantville, Pa. As Barlow was walking around his rig, he thought he saw a baby doll near the left rear wheels. Then he saw a leg move.
"A chill went over my body that can't be explained," Barlow said.
The newborn was half-covered in a bloodied towel, and the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.
Doctors used lights to warm the 7-pound, 1-ounce infant, who was stiff from the cold. They had to warm oxygen before giving it to him.
"The child was in very grave danger. If his temperature would have dropped further, we wouldn't have been able to save him," said Dr. Steven Meador, an emergency room physician.
"I can't say enough about the truck driver, and his acting promptly saved the child's life," Meador said. "Another 15 minutes or so, and we wouldn't have been able to revive him."
Barlow, 39, returned to Powhatan on Sunday night and then headed out to Flemington, N.J., Monday night.
On his way to New Jersey, he stopped by the medical center Tuesday morning and visited the boy.
Barlow took the baby a little Teddy bear that said "I love you."
by CNB