A group of firefighters in Florida saved the day for a curious 6-year-old boy who accidentally got his finger stuck in a desk drawer. Read on to learn more!
When a curious little boy accidentally got his finger stuck in a tight spot, firefighters in Florida immediately rushed to his side to lend a helping hand.
"I went to pick him up from daycare and was in my car when one of the teachers ran out and said, 'Everything is fine, but Gio got one of his hands stuck in a desk,'" Leah Aponte, the 6-year-old boy's mother, told ABC News. "I thought it was just in a drawer or something."
To her shock and horror, Aponte quickly realized that Gio had mistakenly wedged his finger inside a tiny hole in the desk.
"My son is pretty mischievous, so I thought, Oh gosh, what has Gio gotten into now?" Aponte said. "He has Asperger syndrome so he has a lot of heightened sensory stimulation."
Deanna Ortiz, Gio's teacher at Southside Learning Center, said they all attempted to remove Gio’s finger from the drawer painlessly, but they just couldn’t make it work.
"We were trying to get it unstuck with Vaseline and some natural oils, but once we realized it wouldn't budge after about an hour, Leah decided to call the fire department," Ortiz said.
Aponte couldn’t believe how quickly the firefighters arrived to help her son.
"One by one, the paramedics and EMTs came in. I explained to them to talk him through it since he's sensory oriented," she said. "I'm extremely appreciative of how they responded. They were so thoughtful, considerate and courteous."
Lakeland Fire Department Lieutenant Joey Delegge, one of the firefighters who arrived to help, said he wasn’t sure what he was in for when he first arrived on the scene.
"[Leah] explained to us that he would be very cooperative as long as we let him get involved in the decision-making process as we went," Delegge told ABC News. "It was funny, 'cause we're used to getting in there and calling the shots, but we had him helping us."
After handing Gio a mirror to let him see what they were doing, the firefighters, wrapped a ribbon around the little boy’s finger to help reduce the swelling.
"He just took it like a champ," Delegge said.
At the end of the whole ordeal, the firefighters went out of their way to take Gio and his little sister out to the fire truck.
Gio got the once-in-a-lifetime chance to honk the horn, turn on the siren, and play with the lights—and he loved it all!
"We really enjoy sharing these types of stories," said Janel Vasallo, the public information officer for Lakeland Fire Department. "It's nice when we can show our community that we can do it all and really help in any situation."