Big Doctor Saves Little Girl Aboard Plane

When Irene Ahmadzai of north Flushing was returning to LaGuardia airport aboard US Airways flight 1261 from a visit to relatives in the South with her 8-year-old son and infant daughter, her thoughts were on the good time she had with her family on the trip and the continued nice times she would have with her husband and children for the holidays.
But as the plane approached LaGuardia, her baby, 15-month old Ariana, started having a violent seizure, and became unconscious.
Irene screamed for any doctor who might be on board. As luck -—or fate—would have it, Dr. Joseph Abularrage, no less than the chief of pediatrics at New York Hospital of Queens, was sitting a few seats away. He not only stabilized the infant with the help of the aircraft’s emergency oxygen bags — but used his cell phone to call his hospital and have an ambulance waiting at the runway as the plane landed. He also gave reassurances to Irene, who was quite frantic, that her child would be all right.
"He saved the life of my baby," said Irene, who called the Queens Courier. "I just wanted everyone to know that."
The seizure was found to have been caused by a viral infection which inflicted a high, seizure-inducing fever. Irene said her little girl had had a low-grade fever the day before they left for home, but that it had subsided and she was fine when they were ready to leave.