Days after nearly dying, boy spends birthday with those who saved him

Dahmari Jenkins shakes hands with the dispatcher and Seat Pleasant officers who helped him. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins shakes hands with the dispatcher and Seat Pleasant officers who helped him. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins receives cake in celebration of his birthday and survival after being cut with a scalpel. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins receives cake in celebration of his birthday and survival after being cut with a scalpel. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins receives presents in celebration of his birthday and survival after being cut with a scalpel. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins receives presents in celebration of his birthday and survival after being cut with a scalpel. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
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Dahmari Jenkins shakes hands with the dispatcher and Seat Pleasant officers who helped him. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins receives cake in celebration of his birthday and survival after being cut with a scalpel. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Dahmari Jenkins receives presents in celebration of his birthday and survival after being cut with a scalpel. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)

WASHINGTON — Thursday was a big day for Dahmari Jenkins: He turned eight years old.

But this birthday was particularly special, because Dahmari got to spend it at a Prince George’s County  firehouse with the men and women who, just days earlier, saved his life.

Last Friday, Dahmari and his cousin were in a car in a shopping center parking lot when they found a scalpel. It’s believed it was left behind when the car was stolen earlier in the year. While playing, Dahmari’s femoral artery was severed.

March 19, 2024 | (WTOP's Megan Cloherty)

Seat Pleasant Sergeant Aaron Forster was one of the first responders.

“Once I locked eyes, I saw a tremendous amount of blood. I immediately jumped in there, applied pressure to where the wound was.”

By the time Prince George’s County Fire and EMS arrived, according to a news release, Dahmari had “nearly total blood loss.”

“It’s unexplainable. It really is. Because at that moment you think your child is basically dead. Basically that’s what you’re being told,” his mother, Brittney Jenkins, says about getting the call.

But thanks to a good Samaritan, a Prince George’s County dispatcher and Seat Pleasant police officers, he was able to celebrate his special day, and he did it with the people who saved his life.

Looking at Dahmari opening his birthday presents, Forster took a pause.

“It’s never easy dealing with a child as a victim. So, seeing him here today, it just — ya know, brings joy.”

Surrounded by cameras and strangers, Dahmari says he doesn’t remember what happened. He’s just happy to have cake.

WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.

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