By ABC-7 Sports/News Reporter Paul Cicala
LORDSBURG -- An expectant mother was trying to live the American dream, but her journey through the desert almost cost her life.
But thanks to a Border Patrol agent in Lordsburg, New Mexico who says he was just doing his job, that woman is alive and well, and it looks like her unborn child will be all right.
Lee Brieden, the Border Patrol agent, doesn't consider himself a hero. "We just did what we had to do," he says.
However, had he and his fellow agents not acted quickly, the pregnant, 24-year-old undocumented immigrant stranded in the desert might not be alive today.
"She seemed really dehydrated, so I don't know how long she would have been (alive)" says Brieden.
In pictures that describe the October 30th rescue, a "coyote", or immigrant smuggler, left the pregnant woman and her husband behind in an isolated area of Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
According to Brieden, the woman became ill and the rest of the group left, while her husband stayed with her as long as he could before leaving to get help.
Once he tracked someone down, a "Lifenet Air Medical Team" was called in, but was unable to land near rescue point because of the rough terrain. This forced rescuers to go in on foot.
In such a rugged area, it was impossible for the rescuers to carry in a gurney, so they used yucca plants and their branches to create a makeshift stretcher.
Brieden says, "we carried the women about a mile-and-a-half through the canyon," before reaching a waiting helicopter.
Paramedics rushed the immigrant to Tucson Medical Center, and she is expected to make a full recovery. "to actually help somebody and save somebody's life, its really nice," says Brieden.
It's just a day on the job for this Border Patrol agent and his colleagues.
