Toddler who dropped baby sister ‘from height’ saves her life when it revealed killer condition docs had missed

A mum-of-two whose baby daughter had unknowingly suffered a deadly health condition has told how her toddler saved her life by accidentally dropping her on the floor.

Jewel Hee, from Colorado Springs, US, was doing laundry when she caught her four-year-old daughter Harper trying to pick up her then four-month-old baby Hazel in September 2024.

Horrified, the 27-year-old ran towards Harper but failed to make it before she accidentally dropped Hazel from a height of roughly 30 centimetres (12 inches) onto the floor, making her cry.

After rushing to hospital ‘scared’ that her newborn had suffered an injury, scans revealed she hadn’t broken any bones.

But a nurse discovered Hazel’s oxygen levels were extremely low.

She was initially diagnosed with chronic lung disease and treated with antibiotics.

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However, after the tot’s symptoms worsened, an MRI scan in May 2025 showed Hazel had actually suffered a stroke during pregnancy.

Jewel has now hailed Harper a “hero” and claimed medics told her Hazel may have died had the stroke had gone undetected any longer.

She has also urged for routine screening of newborns for such conditions as Hazel suffers from developmental difficulties and requires a feeding tube which she believes could’ve been prevented.

Recalling the terrifying ordeal, Jewel, a carer, said: “My daughter saved Hazel’s life.

“All of our family and friends consider Harper to be Hazel’s hero. It was a happy accident in the end. It was divine intervention.

“Our laundry room is right next to the living room.

“I went to get the laundry in our apartment and within the 10 seconds that I had turned around, I turned back around and saw my then three-year-old trying to pick up my four-month-old off of the floor mat and try to sit her on her lap.

“This is the first time she’d done something like this so we were pretty freaked out.

“She’s always been interested in taking care of little ones and playing with babies so she just wanted to play with her baby.”

While Hazel didn’t “fall far” as Harper was sitting on the floor when she tried to pick her up, it was “still scary enough”, Jewel added.

Last May, the family were told Hazel’s stroke was likely caused by a blood clot in Jewel’s placenta that had passed to her.

Jewel said: “I thought ‘Why wasn’t this found beforehand?’ She’d had four months of screening with doctors and she’s had all her vitals done before.

“It was a very difficult time because we were in and out of the hospital the entire time between September and March, trying to figure out why she was getting sick all of the time.

“I was very upset at first [after finding out about the stroke]. You’re telling me my child had a stroke while I was pregnant with her and not a single doctor was able to catch that?

“It was causing oxygen issues and it was causing me a lot of feeding issues.

“She was aspirating any fluids she was taking in and we were breast feeding at this point so any breast milk that she would eat would go straight into her lungs instead of her stomach.

“She had low weight, wasn’t eating well, and she was having delays and really low muscle tone because of the stroke.

“[Previously] the doctors weren’t concerned so I wasn’t concerned. Usually when you have really low oxygen your lips will turn blue and you have a harder time staying awake, but she had none of those symptoms.

“The doctor had told us that if we had not found this as soon as we did and she had gone through flu season without understanding what had been going on, we would have lost her.”

Hazel now receives oxygen therapy, suffers from developmental delays, wears braces on her feet to help her strength and uses a feeding tube as a result of the stroke.

A baby stroke in the womb, known medically as a prenatal stroke, is typically caused by a blockage or bleed in the brain’s blood vessels that occurs mid-pregnancy.

It’s not always possible to identify a stroke before birth or in newborns. It’s sometimes only recognised later in life, when problems arise with a child’s motor development or learning. 

But it can lead to brain injury and potentially cause cerebral palsy, seizures, or developmental delays later in life.

Jewel said: “I am eternally grateful. I thank God every day that everything happened, did and we were able to find out early.

“If they would have caught it earlier she would not need to have as nearly as many interventions as she does now.

“It’s absolutely terrifying to think that something that could have been prevented, or at least caught as early as it supposedly happened so that she didn’t have as many issues as now.

“I want to raise awareness for other people to make sure they ask questions they need to at a routine appointment and that they push for more through screening.

“If they see anything wrong with their child, don’t hesitate to bring them in or get them checked out.”