Advertisement

A miracle birth and a tragic death

January 22, 2017 marks one year since Daniel Stirling's life changed forever.

In the space of 20 minutes he lost the love of his life and learned an emergency medical team had saved his unborn son.

In 2016, Daniel opened up to Sunday Night recalling the moment he learned of the crash.

"I loved her, still do and I don't think I am going to find —I won't, I won't I know it — anyone that will come close to her," he told Sunday Night's Melissa Doyle.

"I don't think I ever really want to."

"She was as close to perfect as you were going to get."

The image of the family that captured the nation's attention.
The image of the family that captured the nation's attention.

More than 1000 Australians will likely die on our roads this year, each a tragedy for families and friends. But this crash struck a chord across the nation with strangers banding together to raise half a million dollars.

"I'm not in denial that she's gone, I know she's gone and not coming back but I find it very hard day by day at the moment. So yeah it crushes me you know," Daniel said.

"My body just went numb and it just clicked in my head…and I just said, 'she was pregnant'," Daniel said.

Sarah Paino was 24 and seven months pregnant the night she last kissed Daniel goodbye, dropping him off at work before 1AM for the morning shift at Banjo's bakery.

An earlier ride had failed to show. Sarah and their two-year-old son Jordan should’ve been asleep in bed.

CCTV shows a grief-stricken Daniel at the moment police told him his partner had been killed
CCTV shows a grief-stricken Daniel at the moment police told him his partner had been killed

Less than a kilometer away, however, a group of teenagers in an allegedly stolen Rav 4 had already been clocked by police at speeds over 120kmh.

With four young teenagers on board, the car roared past police at the same time Sarah pulled up at Banjo’s bakery near Hobart’s city waterfront.

In accordance with Tasmanian policy, police did not give chase.

Minutes later it speared into Sarah's car with such velocity it propelled it to the other side of the empty four-lane road.

The crash scene as the sun rose in Hobart's city centre
The crash scene as the sun rose in Hobart's city centre

The first miracle of that night was that Jordan was pulled from the car uninjured.

The second was that an ambulance was just 500m away.

It was a traumatic sight for Intensive Care Paramedic Keith Macqueen, one of the first responders.

"We found out early on that she was pregnant," he said.

"I honestly didn't think Sarah was going to survive and I honestly didn't think the baby was going to survive at this time."

The team had minutes to extract Sarah's body from the wreck and get her blood circulating again.

"Before we were actually able to get Sarah out of the car, Sarah became pulseless… so our focus and priority was really getting her unborn child to hospital in hope of saving that baby."

Daniel meets the medical staff who saved his son's life.
Daniel meets the medical staff who saved his son's life.

"We had about five minutes to get her to hospital for the delivery of a reasonably healthy baby," Keith Macqueen told Melissa Doyle.

The next stroke of luck was that Dr Kate Field only just left work.

The emergency specialist was walking away from the hospital at the end of her shift when she received the call about the crash.

"I was walking down the street and a fire engine just came screaming past and I thought to myself 'I wonder how long it’s going to be until I get the call' and that was about 1.12AM."

Four minutes later Dr Field found out the paramedics were bringing her an unborn baby.

Daniel and Sarah's baby Caleb has received ongoing treatment since the crash
Daniel and Sarah's baby Caleb has received ongoing treatment since the crash


"She was so terribly injured that it was likely that she was going to die even at that early phase. I rang ambulance [communications] and I asked for some more information, it was at that point that I found out that she was heavily pregnant.”

"It just seemed like a blink of an eye and the next thing I saw was Sarah being wheeled in by the paramedics, with CPR going on, and all I could see was a massive belly."

At 1.21am, less than 20 minutes after the crash Caleb was delivered by emergency caesarian. It took pediatric doctors a further 25 minutes to get him to breathe on his own.

Baby Caleb shows no sign of his traumatic start to life
Baby Caleb shows no sign of his traumatic start to life

"When Caleb came out he was critically unwell. He was very flat. He didn’t make any effort to breathe," Dr Field said.

Without some crucial timing Caleb wouldn’t have had a chance at life.

"The fact that the accident happened so close to the hospital, the fact that I was still available to make those really critical decisions… and the fact that we had an obstetrician in the hospital that was available," she said.

"It meant that we could actually give Caleb the opportunity of life."

"This baby is just completely and utterly a miracle baby."

As doctors worked through the morning to save the life of Daniel and Sarah's infant son, news of the tragedy stopped the nation.

National coverage of the tragedy led to an incredible outpouring of support.
National coverage of the tragedy led to an incredible outpouring of support.

Three teenagers aged 12 to 15 had allegedly stolen the car and the 15-year-old driver was charged with manslaughter. None of them were injured in the crash.

Baby Caleb is doing remarkably well according to his doctors.

In an emotional reunion with the team of medical and emergency staff that treated Sarah and saved Caleb, he thanked the team for delivering his boys to him.

"He’s had all his tests and all’s come back well. Thank god. He should be a normal little boy. He’s just perfect," Daniel said.

For Dan this battle was just beginning, as a single dad and grieving widower, of coming to terms with his new life with two boys.

"To think I could have had everyone wiped from me, Jordan and Caleb included ... but he’s still here and I think it’s meant to be. We’ll get there."

Sarah's mum Jane farewells the 24 year old at her funeral.
Sarah's mum Jane farewells the 24 year old at her funeral.

Sarah at least made one tough decision for him before she died — early tests revealed a boy was on the way and she couldn’t wait to name him.

"She's like 'I really like Caleb'. I said, 'Yeah I do too'. She's like 'We'll settle with that
one eh?'. 'Yep'."

"I'm never going to hear her voice again or anything you know, [see her] smile, nothing. That's hard to get my head around at the moment but I’ve got to try for the boys."

For Sarah's parents, the blessing of another grandchild will ease their grief.

Sarah's Parents Jane and Michael.
Sarah's Parents Jane and Michael.

"The first time I saw him I was in tears because I was just like 'wow' and happy seeing him but knowing that mum that mum wasn’t [there]," Sarah's mother Jane told Sunday Night.

Watch the full interview in the video above.