CPR Training, 911 Call Key In Saving Infant's Life

DENVER (CBS4) - A Denver area 911 operator helped a family save a child after the 4-month-old was found in his bassinet on his stomach and unresponsive.

For Juanita Sanchez, being able to play with her son Anthony is miraculous after the scare she had Saturday while he was napping. She'd checked on him 20 minutes earlier.

"When I went in the room he was turned … and his hands were backwards and his face was just pointing down," Sanchez said. "He wasn't breathing, he was purple."

So the mother of five said she began the life-saving technique she'd learned in CPR class.

"I started pushing on his chest and giving him breath -- top breath -- trying to make him come back," she said.

The family called 911. Sanchez's sister, Marcette DeLeon, ran in from the front yard and took over trying to get the baby boy breathing again. DeLeon said she's also a trained caregiver and took required CPR classes.

"After a couple minutes of giving him mouth-to-mouth he took one breath. Every breath was about 45 seconds apart," DeLeon said.

They put tiny Anthony in the car and met an ambulance in a parking lot partway to the hospital where the live-saving crew took over. The baby's family says doctors tell them he's fine.

"To see his smiles and to know that he actually made it; and I'm going to see him grow up. It's a blessing," DeLeon said.

Anthony's aunt and mother want other parents to learn CPR and remember to check on children often.

"You can never put your guard down and think that it's okay to be not always watching," Sanchez said.