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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Baby Nynette Pedroza will turn 14 months old next month thanks to the heroic actions of a Camp Pendleton Marine.
Luckily for Nynette’s mother, who lives in base housing, Sgt. Sergio Zacarias Jr. happened to live next door when her daughter stopped breathing while taking a bath, June 20.
At approximately 3 p.m., Zacarias, a combat instructor with Alpha Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry, was enjoying a normal evening home from work.
“I was getting ready for a soccer game and walked past the window and saw my neighbor screaming help me, help me!” Zacarias said. “I ran downstairs, told my wife to call 911 and went outside. My neighbor was holding her baby up high in the air and didn’t know what to do. I took the baby, and she was blue and unconscious. At first, I thought she was choking, so I applied pressure to her chest and nothing happened.”
At that point, another neighbor, Ayanna Silverton, a Marine spouse and former social worker trained in CPR and first aid, arrived on the scene, took the baby from Zacarias, laid her down on the grass and proceeded to conduct CPR. Both Silverton and Zacarias were able to bring Nynette back to life as she coughed, spat water and slowly returned to her normal color, nearly five minutes of chest compressions later.
“I don’t know what would have happened if they wouldn’t have been there,” said Alana Pedroza, Nynette’s mother. “I know what to do in these situations, but when it’s your own child, it’s a completely different story. It truly was an amazing sense of relief to be living in a community of Marines who are trained for situations like this. Thank God he was there.”
As the first person on the scene, Zacarias quickly reacted to the baby’s situation before Silverton arrived, thanks to his Marine training.
“As Marines, we all get taught to take initiative and lead by example and we get CPR classes periodically, so I knew what to do and how to assess and handle the situation,” Zacarias said. “But I’m a father myself and seeing a baby in that condition was shocking. Later I was thinking that, really, this could happen to anyone. She was unconscious nearly five minutes.
Zacarias credits his quick reaction time to his three deployments to Iraq, where he was constantly on the ready during the battle of Fallujah.
“Just like in combat, every day something different happens so situations like this are what we prepare for,” Zacarias said. “If someone goes down or gets shot, we have to apply our combat life saver skills, so I knew to restore the breathing first.”
Now Zacarias serves as a combat instructor, relaying his knowledge and expertise to recruits in infantry training.
“We couldn’t ask for a better sergeant,” said 1st Sgt Daniel Santiago, first sergeant, Alpha Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry. “He showed a lot of courage and it says a lot about his abilities. He really is what the Marine Corps personifies as a Marine and as a sergeant. I would definitely feel comfortable with him as my neighbor.”
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2011 18:55 |
| Story ID: | 73403 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 328 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Marine’s instincts help save baby’s life, by Cpl Jennifer Calaway, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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