Grieving Claremore Family Pleads For Way Around Trains After Baby's Death

The sound of Claremore trains now haunt Tasha Blan.

Tasha, her husband Jason, and their four surviving children are mourning their 14-month-old baby boy, Jules, who died after falling in a pool last Wednesday.

Now, they wonder: if a train had not stopped them on their way to the hospital, would their child be alive today?

"Trying to get it out of my head, and all I hear are these trains going by, over and over," Tasha said.

Tasha said the family has always used baby gates and extra locks, but during that hectic day, they'd been left open. Tasha was getting ready to pick up one of the other children from the bus stop when she realized Jules was missing.

10/6/2016 Related Story: Mother Finds Toddler Drowned In Claremore Pool

She went outside and saw Jules lying in the pool.

"I was screaming," Tasha said. "And I just started doing CPR."

Emergency responders came quickly, she said, and they continued giving Jules CPR.

On their way to the hospital, the ambulance carrying Jules and a patrol car carrying Tasha got stopped by a train.

Once the family arrived, doctors told the Blans they were doing everything they could.

"I got to hold him," Tasha said. "I begged - I said, 'Please don't take him.'"

Jules died shortly afterward.

Tasha said she blames herself, not the train, but still wonders how the situation would have played out, had traffic not been stopped.

"I know it's my fault, I know all that is my fault. But what if that train hadn't been there? Would he still be here?" she said.

Claremore City Manager Jim Thomas said he's received many calls about Jules' death. He said records show Jules' ambulance was stalled for approximately one minute.

Thomas called it an unfortunate accident but said emergency responders did all they could.

He said the city is working to make Claremore a "quiet zone," in which trains do not sound their horns during designated times. But elevating the tracks at the Blue Starr Drive intersection, he said, would cost between $60 and $70 million.

The Blans want something, anything done to find a way around the trains.

Most of all, they want their baby to know this:

"I'm sorry," Tasha said. "We love him very much."

The Blans donated Jules' heart, which will save two other babies' lives. They donated his brain to scientific research.

If you'd like to help the family, a GoFundMe has been set up here.