They saved Lila's life at 3. Now these firefighters show up for her every birthday with gifts
'To us, she’s family now...'
When a frantic call comes into a fire station, responders prepare for the worst, but nothing quite prepares them for the sight of a tiny child pinned beneath a heavy vehicle. On September 28, 2026, WESH 2 News reported the heartwarming story of Seminole County Fire Station 22, where they saved the life of a 3-year-old girl named Lila Pagan. What started as a horrifying nightmare three years ago ended in a miracle and gave a Florida family a lifelong bond with the heroes who refused to give up on her.
Just around the corner
It was a nightmare scenario on a quiet afternoon when 3-year-old Lila was accidentally run over by a truck, leaving her trapped beneath the vehicle. Seminole County Fire Station 22 was just around the corner, and Lt. Marcus Gomes was among the first on the scene. "The first thing I saw was I like saw my little girl," Gomes recalled. "And as I saw that, I'm like, OK, we have to try to do everything that we can possibly do." Panicked, Lila’s mother, Pam Pagan, desperately wanted to accompany her daughter, and Gomes had to pull her away from the ambulance so the crew could work.
"I wanted nothing more than to be next to her and with her..." Pam shared, describing the overwhelming chaos. "So it was like a struggle for the firefighters to, like, rip me off of the ambulance and get me to calm down." As firefighter-paramedic Cross Farrentino and the crew rushed a critically injured, intubated Lila into emergency care, her 8-year-old brother, Francisco, turned to prayer, singing worship songs in the hospital hallways while his sister fought for her life in a coma. "I knew that Father God was with my sister, so I had to tell her that," he said.
Little Lila started walking again
About a month later, Lila was home from the hospital. But for the crew at Station 22, the story didn't end when the siren faded. When Lila walked into the firehouse to thank them, emotional firefighters were moved to tears. "When she walked in here, I couldn't help but feel like just emotion come over me and look down and just start dripping tears," Farrentino said. Now 6 years old, Lila is full of energy, running and playing like any other kid.
Kids in Accident
Lila’s miraculous survival highlights the critical role of rapid pediatric emergency response in vehicular accidents. Moreover, vehicles pose serious risks to children, both inside and outside the car. According to official data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 161,000 child passengers ages 14 and younger were injured in U.S. motor vehicle crashes in 2023. That figure covers children riding in vehicles, rather than children struck outside them, as Lila was.
'She's family now'
The firefighters have stayed close to Lila and her family, celebrating birthdays and Christmases together and watching her grow. "To us, she's family now... Christmas comes around. We get gifts for every kid, but she's just a little more special to us," Gomes reflected. They even have a nickname for Lila: "We call her baby girl." For Pam, the gratitude remains endless: "It's hard to put into words, as a mom, the gratitude that we feel for what they did for us that day and how they continue to be in our lives."
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