Bus driver and boy whose life she saved attend Mavs’ game

A modern-day miracle happened less than a month ago that eventually led Raquel Radford-Baker to become an official member of Giavona Bell’s family.

Radford-Baker was driving a school bus in the Seagoville Independent School District, and Bell’s son – Preston – was a passenger on that bus, sitting three rows behind Radford-Baker. Preston accidently swallowed a quarter, and stumbled to the front of the bus to alert Radford-Baker to what had occurred.

Then, came some frantic life-threatening moments that Preston, Radford-Baker and Giavona will never forget and will connect their lives forever.

“I will never forget 9-29-23,” Radford-Baker said. “I was driving the route, and I wasn’t even supposed to have been on that route. I picked up Preston about 7:20, arrived at the school about 7:22. Moments later, he went down and the tragic happened. He came up to me stumbling and told me he couldn’t breathe and that he had swallowed a penny.

“So, I immediately took action, flew off the bus, carried him in my arms, and on my way to the sidewalk trying to get help I was doing the Heimlich maneuver. By the time I made it to the sidewalk he was pale in the face – blue and pale in the face. I’m telling him, ‘Baby, breathe. Baby, breathe. I got you. I got you. Breathe.’ I directed one of the parents, ‘Please call 9-1-1.’ And she called 9-1-1. And the whole time I’m still performing the Heimlich maneuver, and out came a quarter.”

A seven-year old first grader at Seagoville North Elementary School, Preston knows he’s blessed Radford-Baker was there to assist him and knew what to do.

“I was playing with a quarter, then I just put it in my mouth,” Preston said. “Then I was choking on it and I told Ms. Raquel and she saved my life. Then the quarter flew out.”

When Preston’s mom was contacted, she initially thought the worse had occurred.

“My heart sank, because I thought at first it was the bus, there was an incident, the bus tipped over or got into a crash,” Giavona said. “When they told me what actually happened, I was just in complete shock. I was crying hysterically. Luckily my sister was there to drive me to the school, because I couldn’t even drive. I said drop everything and let’s go.

“We were on our way to the school and as soon as I saw Preston I was just completely thankful. I just knelt down to the ground and cried, and said, ‘Thank you for saving my baby.’ I talked to Raquel and we were crying together on the phone. She said, ‘All I was trying to do was save your baby’s life.’ And she saved my baby’s life. She is an angel. She is a complete angel. I’m so grateful for her.”

The Mark Cuban Heroes Basketball Center found out about the incident and invited several members of the Bell and Radford-Baker families for a meet and greet and to attend this past Friday’s regular season home opener between the Mavs and Brooklyn Nets. Also, two of Radford-Baker’s kids actually attend the Mark Cuban Heroes Basketball Center.

Heroes chairman Charlie McKinney provided the tickets to the Bell and Radford-Baker families.

In addition, several members of the Dallas Black Fire Fighters Association were invited to Friday’s game and saw the Mavs clip the Nets, 125-120. The meet and greet invitation by the Mavs came in celebration of National First Responders Day, which is Sunday.

Before Friday’s game, Preston got to meet and take pictures with several of the Mavs’ players.

“I would have never thought in a million years that we would get the opportunity to even (attend a Mavs’ game),” Giavona said. “When the Mavs called me and told me that we had tickets to go to the Mavericks, my son was just jumping up and down.

“He was like, ‘Oh, my God! We’re going to see NBA players!’ It was just truly delightful. This is awesome. There are no words to describe what is going on right now. He is overly thrilled.”

And Giavona is overly thrilled that Radford-Baker – she was actually the alternate school bus driver on Preston’s bus route that day – was on duty during this particular crisis.

“I work from home, so I was just about to clock in and get to working, and I got that call literally about three minutes before I was even about to start working, and I just had to drop everything,” Giavona said. “I couldn’t even call my boss.

“The school is no more than five minutes away from my house, so when I got in the car I was there almost instantly because we were driving fast.”

The terrifying moments were frightening to Radford-Baker once she discovered Preston was in deep trouble.

“By the time he approached my seat he was acting like he was regurgitating,” she said. “So, I opened the door and I was like, ‘Hey, go ahead and throw up out the door.’ He turned around, but he turned back around to me and he mentioned something about a penny, and I immediately took action. I did what I would want someone to do to my children.

“Honestly, I’ve never took a class on the Heimlich. I did take a class on first aid and CPR, but not the Heimlich. I really do believe that God took over me, and I had a job to do and I did it. It just came to me. I didn’t think about calling anyone. I didn’t think about calling for help. I immediately took action and did what I needed to do.”

Radford-Baker describes the frantic situation as divine intervention that her instincts kicked in and she was able to save Preston’s life, although she had no knowledge of the Heimlich maneuver.

“I’m forever grateful and I thank God that I was there at that right moment,” she said. “Divine timing saved that baby’s life, and here we are now. I’m grateful and I’m forever humble.”

Giavona also is grateful for Radford-Baker.

“She’s truly an angel,” Giavona said. “She knew what to do, it kicked in and saved his life. I told her even if I was in that situation, I wouldn’t have known what to do, so it’s just truly a blessing that she was there to save him because I don’t know what I would have done.

“When I saw her, we just embraced. We hugged for seemingly like hours, and we talked about it. And she’s a part of our family now. She’s literally a part of our family. She’s like my sister now. I call her up. We do everything. We go out. I love her.”

X: @DwainPrice