Texas firefighter Caleb Halvorson was trapped under the burning wreckage of a collapsed garage when he cried out to rescuers, “I have a kid in the NICU. Please don’t let me die.”
At that moment, Caleb wasn’t thinking about himself—he was thinking about his newborn son, Hudson, who was fighting for his life miles away.
Just weeks earlier, Caleb and his wife, Hayley, had welcomed Hudson almost two months early. He weighed only 1 pound, 9 ounces, and spent 112 days in the NICU after doctors discovered complications with Hayley’s pregnancy.
“I had a really bad placenta,” Hayley told PEOPLE. “It was really small and it wasn’t formed correctly. I went in for that 27 week checkup, and Hudson had really limited blood flow. His heart rate kept dropping.”
“There was no amniotic fluid,” she adds, “so they admitted me right then and there.”
Many parents in that situation might have been told there was little hope—but the Halvorsons chose to fight for their son’s life.
Then, on September 3, while Caleb was battling a house fire, the garage suddenly collapsed on him. Trapped for nearly two minutes, he could feel the heat and weight pressing down. “I didn’t feel like I was gonna die because I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “It was because I was so hot. The beam across my chest and neck pushed me toward the fire, and I couldn’t move at all.”
When rescuers finally pulled him out, Caleb was severely burned and airlifted to the hospital. He spent 34 days in the burn unit before finally heading home on October 6. Just four days later, baby Hudson came home, too.
Hudson made history at the hospital as both the tiniest baby ever born there and the one with the longest NICU stay. He and his dad both defied the odds — all glory to God!
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Caleb still faces several surgeries, but he calls the accident a blessing in disguise. It forced him to slow down and soak in every moment with Hudson. “I’ll get to see him grow, take his first steps, and not miss anything,” he said.
“All I can do is just start crying…I’m just like…thank you God for letting this happen right now…” Caleb told CBS.
Through pain, danger, and months of uncertainty, the Halvorsons never stopped fighting for their son. Today, both father and son are home—living proof that every life, no matter how fragile, has immeasurable value. Their story challenges us to protect the vulnerable, to never give up on hope, and to thank God for the gift of every single breath.
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