Sometimes a little hope is found floating amid a sea of sadness.
For Luverne native Abby Lange, that hope came June 26 when she helped a woman deliver a healthy baby boy.
Abby works as a paramedic with Ringdahl Ambulance in Fergus Falls.
The unexpected delivery was the result of a 5 a.m. emergency call of a female not feeling well. The ride to the hospital is something that Abby won’t soon forget.
A language barrier prevented Abby from learning how far along the woman was in her pregnancy. Vitals revealed an elevated blood pressure but little else that indicated the woman was in labor.
“Baby” was the one word the woman said that Abby understood.
She scrambled to prepare for the birth in the ambulance.
“A minute or two after that, the baby was out,” Abby recalled.
In the ambulance Abby handed the new mom her healthy baby boy.
“What now?” the woman asked.
As a response and a way to fill the silence for the rest of the ride to the hospital, Abby began telling a story about her friend and LHS classmate Anthony Boyenga, who had died of a heart attack just four days earlier. She planned to leave at the end of her shift to attend his visitation and funeral in Luverne.
“Anthony,” the mom said smiling, as she held her newborn closer.
Abby is unsure if the woman ultimately named her newborn Anthony, but Abby and her coworker think otherwise.
“In our hearts he is Baby Anthony,” she said.
In recognition of the proud moment, the Fergus Falls Unit 52 ambulance is adorned with a small blue stork decal in Anthony’s honor.
Abby and her partner will receive a stork pin at a later date.
“It’s a very big deal,” she said of the birth. “We see a lot of death every day.”
Ironically it was Anthony Boyenga who sparked Abby’s interest in a medical career.
In the fall of 2005 Anthony was in a car accident south of Luverne. Abby was best friends with Anthony’s girlfriend at the time.
She visited Anthony in the Sioux Falls hospital, and through the visits the two grew to be friends.
They stayed in touch through the years.
Thoughts of having the baby boy she delivered named after her friend Anthony is comforting.
“It was so great — a nice fuzzy feeling,” she said.