Dad saves daughter with CPR training he'd never used
QUEENS, N.Y. — A children’s worker trained in CPR used his life-saving skills for the first time to revive his own daughter when she suffered a terrifying seizure the day after a round of immunization shots.
Rasheen Hill had just opened the door to his Queens home after his shift at the New York City Children’s Center nearby when his wife frantically called out to him.
Rachel Hill was trying to get her 1-year-old daughter, Shiloh, and 4-year-old son, Zion, to bed around 9 p.m. on June 25 when the little girl suddenly went limp.
Just seconds earlier, Shiloh was happily camped out near the tub, tugging at a roll of toilet paper as her brother was bathed. As the busy mom hefted Shiloh to shuffle her two kids to their room for bedtime, the girl stopped moving.
The normally active Shiloh was motionless. Her lips were turning blue and her eyes weren’t fixed, Rachel told the Daily News.
“I kept calling her name and her eyes kept rolling back, I was really scared,” Rachel recalled.
The terrified mother heard her husband Rasheen entering their home and hastily called for him.
Rasheen saw his daughter in her unresponsive state — and immediately sprang into action.
“Instincts just kicked in,” said Rasheen, 43, a mental health therapy coordinator who is required to take annual CPR classes for his job.
“I swept her throat to see if there was blockage and did two cycles of CPR. I’ve worked with children for 19 years, and the first time I’m using my CPR training is on my own child,” he said.
As he labored to save his daughter, Shiloh’s mom called 911. By the time first responders arrived a few minutes later, the girl was breathing again on her own and conscious, the parents said.
