CyFair VFD crew honored for saving critically stabbed boy

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Ayden Duarte was all smiles Friday in his firefighter jacket as he stood among the people who saved his life just three months ago. But there was one person not there.

"It worried me a long time, and I found out he's doing OK. I'm doing OK," FedEx bus driver Netha Preston said.

Preston was the first person to come to little Ayden's aid.

"I looked and I said, 'Are you serious?" President recalls.

The experience still haunts her today. Preston said she saw 23-year-old Jenea Mungia, with a knife in hand, stabbing the four-year-old and banging his head to the ground.

"How can somebody love their child so much that they want to hurt them like that? She had to be sick."

Preston said Mungia wouldn't stop.

"She was steady hollering at me to kill her," Preston said.

Preston now on the phone with 911, she tried to approach Mungia.

"I got out of the truck, but that's when I saw the knife. And I just backed up and got back in the truck," she said.

Ayden was rushed by helicopter to the hospital. He suffered a heart attack on the way there. Prosecutors said Mungia mutilated the boy's genitals.

"I was worried if he was going to make it or not," Preston said.

Doctors were not certain he would make it. Then after months of fighting in ICU, he recovered. Preston heard the news.

"It was like I found a million dollars. I felt so good," she said.

On Friday, those brave paramedics and firefighters saw Ayden's smiling face -- some for the first time. They were presented with the Crew of the Year award.

And Preston found out that she too is nominated for FedEx's highest honor, a humanitarian award.