A strong, heroic, 11-year-old girl miraculously averted a fatal crisis with her quick actions. The heart-stopping incident took place in August 2019 when Lyla Morgan, who was just 11 at the time, was watching her 7-week-old baby sister Lilya Castillo at home. Suddenly, she realized that her infant sister was unresponsive and when she went to check on her, she noticed Lilya was not breathing. "When I came back into the room her face was grey and her lips were white and she was just laying there, she wasn’t breathing," recalled Lyla in a video shared by UnityPoint Health — Waterloo.

Lyla sprung into action and began performing life-saving measures in an attempt to save the baby's life. Their mother, Amanda Paigly, who wasn't home when the incident occurred, explained, "I was at work and about an hour after I had left from lunch the baby had stopped breathing." She added, "The heroics happened on my second day of work. I think it was a message to stay at home." Revealing how her elder daughter performed CPR, she continued, "My older daughter blew a little puff of air in the baby’s mouth, she didn’t know what else to do and she proceeded to call 911."

While Lyla's heroic efforts seemed futile at the moment, it was just the thing that proved to be life-saving as Lilya began breathing again, reports PEOPLE. "She just started to breathe again and we went outside and she started to make noises," explained Lyla. When first responders arrived at the location, they continued the life-saving measures and by the time the baby was taken to the ambulance, she began crying and breathing on her own again. Medic Alex Bentley was thoroughly impressed by Lyla's CPR skills. 

"I immediately grabbed a hold of the baby [and] started trying to get her to cry," said Bentley recalling the moment he arrived at the scene. "For her to be able to step up at age 11, that is very impressive," he added. Even medic Steven Sinnwell lauded Lyla for her efforts. "It’s just amazing an 11-year-old could do that." As for the mother of the two girl, she was overwhelmed with emotions just thinking about what could have happened if Lyla was not there. 

"I’m super proud of her, I’m just really proud," said Amanda fighting back tears. "I’m really blessed with having such a great child." According to Times-Republican, the UnityPoint Health — Marshalltown Emergency Department and Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer honored Lyla's heroic act by presenting her with a UnityPoint Health Hero certificate. Thankfully this 911 call ended on a good note because Lyla performed CPR on the baby. Knowing CPR or Cardiopulmonary resuscitation can help prevent many avoidable deaths all around the globe as it doubles or triples the chances of survival following cardiac arrest. 

The American Heart Association recommends "general public or bystanders who witness an adult suddenly collapse" to perform "compression-only CPR, or Hands-Only CPR. Hands-Only CPR is CPR without mouth-to-mouth breaths." It continues, "It is recommended for use by people who see a teen or adult suddenly collapse in an out-of-hospital setting (such as at home, at work, or in a park)." The hands-only CPR process requires one to first call 911 or send someone to alert authorities and "push hard and fast in the center of the chest." For more information about CPR click here. 

Cover image source: YouTube Screenshot | UnityPoint Health