Lupe Barboza learned CPR 30 years ago, but she didn't have any trouble remembering how to do it Tuesday afternoon when a co-worker’s baby suddenly stopped breathing.
Barboza, an IT specialist for Fort Worth Independent School District, was working at the front desk of her office on University Drive when a co-worker’s wife rushed in with her baby girl.
The girl, 11-month-old Analise Wiggins, had suddenly stopped breathing when her mother was waiting in the parking lot for her husband to get off work.
"And she said her baby wasn't breathing,” Barboza said. “I looked and I saw that the baby was with no color. She was purple."
Barboza swung into action, yelling at her manager to call 911.
"I've got a baby that's unresponsive, can't breathe,” he told a Medstar dispatcher.
Help was on the way, but there was no time to wait.
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Barboza placed Analise on a nearby table and started CPR.
"She was here, facing this way,” Barboza said as she pointed at the table and described how she did chest compressions with two fingers.
Tara Wiggins, Analise’s mother, said she was frozen in fear.
"All I was thinking is, ‘My daughter's not breathing, she's not breathing, I'm not going to lose my daughter,’" she said.
The baby’s father -- Barboza's co-worker -- raced into the room. He had been out of the office but rushed there after another co-worker called him.
"I had lots of tears in my eyes and I was like, you know, ‘God you are going to have to intervene because I don't know what's going on,’" he said.
His wife said she was overcome with emotion.
"I was like come on baby, you can do this, come on,” she said.
It may have seemed like an eternity but even before rescue crews arrived, Analise started breathing again.
The CPR worked.
"OK the baby is awake. The baby is awake now,” the manager told 911.
Barboza said the baby started whimpering.
"She came to, and I took her and the mother was relieved, I was relieved,” Barboza said.
Tara Wiggins said she will never forget the experience.
"It's just very emotional,” she said. “It's something that will probably never leave my mind. It'll always be in the back of my mind."
Paramedics took Analise to the hospital, where doctors determined she had a seizure caused by a spike in temperature.
She is back home now and just fine.
Barboza, who said she has performed CPR several other times over the years, played down her role and said she is no hero.
"I don't really consider that, on my part, but I’m thankful that I was here,” she said. You don't think. You just know, I can help, and you help."
