Maria Carlin, who is also a nurse, had to decide whether to pull over and give her son CPR or continue to race to the hospital.
She chose not to stop and when she got to the hospital, doctors were able to save her son's life.
She described the most harrowing drive of her life to the hospital.
"I remember God just saying don't look back at him, you can't handle this right now," Carlin said.
After a fun day on the water, Jack had a croupy cough and had gone to bed, but was having trouble breathing.
"All of a sudden it sounded like he was breathing through a coffee straw, he was squeaking like a mouse," Carlin said.
Within seconds, Carlin said she heard Jack stop breathing.
"I just heard him fall forward in his car seat," she said.
Carlin, who is also a nurse, was faced with a gut-wrenching decision.
"Do I continue driving," she said. "Knowing that every minute that passes, is another minute that I'm getting closer to permanent brain damage."
It took Carlin nine excruciating minutes to get to Huntington Hospital. Knowing her son had stopped breathing, she jammed on her horn as she pulled up and raced Jack inside.
And that is when the Northwell nurses and doctors brought Jack back to life.
"We owe them everything," Carlin said.
After a delicate transfer to Cohen Medical Center, Jack was diagnosed with a rare condition called laryngeal cleft in which the separation between his trachea and esophagus was incomplete.
Doctors say it is hard to diagnose.
"Most of them present with recurrent croup or chronic cough, children will sometimes have difficulty swallowing thin liquids," said Northwell Pediatric Airway Surgeon Dr. Lee Smith.
Jack's condition was repaired with surgery and the family hopes their case will help to educate others.
----------
* More Long Island news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube