Baby Squished Under SUV, Survives

July 24, 2009 — -- Sophia LaFauci's parents are calling her a "miracle" baby after the 2-year-old was pinned underneath a two-ton SUV and survived with just a scratch.

Sophia's mother, Rachel LaFauci, had just moved her car in her garage when she looked by the right front wheel and saw one of the most horrifying sights of her life -- two tiny legs sprawled out from right under the tire.

The legs belonged to 22-month-old Sophia, who was pinned on her back under the more than two-ton SUV. The tire had rolled right up the girl's leg and rested all its weight on her stomach.

"I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but I knew that would be me losing control," LaFauci told "Good Morning America." "I started to pull it together. I focused on that car. I was shaking; my body was just so scared."

But the Massachusetts mother kept it together, jumped back in the car and, as delicately as she could, rolled the SUV off her baby's stomach.

Then LaFauci lost it.

"I screamed her name at the top of my lungs and she replied 'mommy.' That's when I knew she was alive," LaFauci said.

LaFauci said her daughter looked purple, and within minutes emergency officials had arrived.

"When we arrived the child was stripped to the diaper, had some obvious marks from the tire on her body," said paramedic Erik Boie. "There appeared to be tire marks running length wise from the left side to her right arm."

"We got an IV into her leg and gave her some oxygen. And I believe within 10 to 15 minutes of us arriving, she was in a helicopter on her way to Boston," said paramedic Donald Mejia.

At the hospital doctors have the LaFaucis welcome, if unexpected news. Not only was Sophia fine, but incredibly, she had no broken bones, no internal injuries and barely a scratch.

According to kidsandcars.org , Sophia is one of the lucky ones. More than 2,400 children visit emergency rooms each year after being struck by or rolled over by a vehicle backing up.

At least two are killed each week in such accidents.

Toddler Survives SUV With Just a Scratch

Sophia survived the encounter with only a slight red scratch mark on her neck.

"GMA" medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard credited her survival to the relative "elasticity" of the toddler's soft tissue, but her parents have a simpler explanation: it was a miracle.

"She's more than OK; she's perfect," Rachel LaFauci said. "No fractures, no internal bleeding, no head trauma, no nothing. She's perfect."

"We've been blessed with a second chance," Sophia's father, Anthony LaFauci said. "We're not going to take life for granted."