Time Warner Cable technician Daniel Craft was in the right place at the right time.
Craft was leaving a cable installation in Galloway when three woman sprinted from an apartment building, looking for help for a baby who had stopped breathing.
He helped them place a call to 911 and rushed in to save Dakota Sanders.
The 5-month old baby boy’s face was turning blue and his body was cold to the touch.
“I propped his head back and he was still blue, so I thought there was something in his mouth or he was choking. I put my finger in and swept it through his mouth to clear his throat. As I pulled my finger out, I still had my ear down there and I heard him starting to gurgle and his stomach just raised. He started breathing again,” said Craft.
Craft has a military background and also worked as a corrections officer. He says he was scared when he realized the baby wasn’t breathing but he managed to stay calm.
“If he hadn’t been there, my baby would have died,” said Dakota’s mother, Angela Sanders. “I was freaked out and I didn’t know what to do,” she added.
Craft stayed with Dakota until paramedics arrived, talking with a 911 operator and making sure to keep the baby breathing. Paramedics say without Craft’s help, the little boy would not have survived.
Doctors later determined Dakota stopped breathing after suffering a ruptured hernia that caused a seizure. Daniel even went to the hospital Friday morning to visit the baby. He is expected to make a full recovery.
“He is a hero. I am grateful he saved my baby,” said Sanders.
She was required to take a CPR course before bringing baby Dakota home from the hospital on Friday.
“Now, if something ever happens like this, I will be able to give my baby CPR,” said Sanders.