Nurse who saved Cape Coral 15-month-old having a seizure shares how you can do the same

The nurse who saved a 15-month-old who was having a seizure in a Cape Coral Walmart has been found and is now telling her story of stepping in to help.

The 15-month-old Maverick and his mom Jessica Pobega were at a Cape Coral Walmart to get Tylenol when Maverick had a febrile seizure.

“The first thing I thought to do is just scream out that my son’s having a seizure, you know, hoping people would come help, you know, but I had zero clue what to do,” said Pobega.

She didn’t know what to do, but another shopper did. “I just walked up and said, I’m an ER nurse, I let me just let me take him,” said Lisa Didero, a retired ER nurse from Canada.

Didero heard Pobega’s cries for help and took action. “You just have to make sure the baby’s safe and that he’s okay. And that’s what happened. So I’m glad I was there. But then I just wanted to sneak away checkout,” said Didero.

Maverick’s mom was eager to find Didero to say thank you.

Didero’s husband saw our story on Wednesday and convinced his wife to share her story.

“I thought it’d be better for her to tell her story. So other mothers and fathers would know how to react in the same situation,” said David Didero.

“As a medical professional, I just it’s something that I’m used to seeing. And then again, I wrongly presumed that my children also knew what to do,” said Lisa Didero.

They didn’t. “The only things you need to do is lay them down, put them on a soft surface, so they don’t hurt themselves while they’re seizing. And put them on their side so that if they’re drooling or vomiting, that they’re not going to aspirate that into their lungs, and then you just watch them, time the seizure,” said Lisa Didero.

While Didero said it was just her instinct, to her husband, “She’s my little hero.”

She is Maverick’s hero too.

Maverick is home and doing well. WINK News passed along Didero’s number to his parents, who were eager to find and thank the nurse who saved their son.