FORT WORTH — We’ve all likely heard the statistic that CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of surviving a cardiac incident, but for many it doesn’t really set in until you’ve experienced such an emergency firsthand.

For Fort Worth mom Erin Fennell, her worst nightmare almost came true this fall.

“He’s usually pretty calm until he’s not and then he’s going to let you know very quickly,” said Fennell holding her 3-month-old son Parker.

However on Sep. 2, Fennell said Parker was too calm and quiet. Fennell had been pumping milk for the then 6-week-old and said she’d been trying to calm him as he was being unusually fussy.   

“All of the sudden he went quiet and non-responsive and started getting really white,” said Fennell.

Fennell said doctors would later determine that Parker had aspirated on some milk he drank earlier that day. The family has since discovered that he’s still dealing with some feeding issues due in part to being born with a cleft lip and palate. 

At the time though, Fennell had no idea what was happening, and she was home alone with her son and his life was in danger. So Fennell immediately called 911 which was answered by MedStar Fort Worth 911 operator Valerie Carson.

“So we immediately told her to get him on the floor, nothing under his head, and started with the CPR instructions right away,” said Carson.

Fennell said that she and her husband had been walked through the infant CPR process before when Parker was born, but that she never had formal training. 

“I sort of knew the process, but I didn’t remember how many breaths and how many times I should push on his chest and everything,” said Fennell.

On the 911 call, Carson said Fennell did an amazing job staying as calm as possible, following her instructions as she walked her through the breaths and chest compressions needed for infant CPR.

“We’re gonna go at this rate: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, stop,” Carson could be heard saying on the 911 call.

After a few minutes of the procedure, Parker can suddenly be heard crying in the background of the call as a sense of relief came over both Fennell and Carson. The baby would still require more care, but he was breathing again, and as Carson put it, he was “moving where he needs to be.”

Young Parker’s situation was a dangerous one to be sure. According to the American Heart Association, about 9 out of 10 people who go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die. In 2017, the organization reported that nearly 7,000 children suffered such events annually and of those under a year old, only 6.2% survived to hospital discharge.

MedStar reports that they’ve responded to 2,500 cardiac arrest patients in the last 12 months and only about 46% of people in that scenario get the immediate help they need before paramedics arrive.

The Fennell’s and Carson will certainly be major advocates for that training after their experience. Last week, Fennell and Carson got to meet for the first time at MedStar’s headquarters in Fort Worth, where the 911 operator got to see the happy ending of that scary call.

“You did so good! You did everything just right,” Carson told her with a smile as the two hugged.

“He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her,” said Fennell as Parker let out a few chirps in her arms and calmly closed his eyes for a nap.