Two Days After Her CPR Class, 16-Year-Old Ariana Leonardis Got a 3-Week-Old Baby Breathing Again in a Tuckerton Parking Lot

In a parking lot in Tuckerton, New Jersey, on the evening of October 24, a couple stood with their 3-week-old baby and begged anyone nearby for help. The baby was not breathing, and the parents were calling out in Spanish. A 16-year-old who had finished a CPR class two days earlier was close enough to hear. NBC10 Philadelphia reported that Ariana Leonardis began chest compressions, and the baby started coughing and crying before ambulance crews arrived.

A Tuckerton Parking Lot on a Saturday Night

Leonardis, a junior at Pinelands Regional High School, was walking with her cousin, 15-year-old Riley Porter, when they heard the commotion. NBC10 placed the scene in the parking lot of a former urgent care facility, with Porter saying he had been in the nearby Wawa lot when he heard a couple screaming. The Asbury Park Press, in a column republished on Yahoo Life, identified Leonardis as a Little Egg Harbor resident.

The cousins faced a language barrier, according to NJ 101.5, but understood that an infant was in distress. The Asbury Park Press reported that Leonardis asked the parents for permission before she began. According to NBC10, she asked whether they needed CPR, and then she started compressions.

The Asbury Park Press added that the 3-week-old had stopped breathing during a feeding, and that Leonardis used back blows as well as chest compressions. The baby then began coughing and crying. NBC10 said the cousins reported that the baby was conscious when ambulance crews arrived, and that the infant was taken to a nearby hospital.

Leonardis told NBC10 that in the moment her only thought was that the baby had to be brought “back to life.”

The CPR Class Leonardis Took Two Days Earlier

The training was part of her coursework in the Human Development and Child Care Program at the Ocean County Vocational Technical School’s Brick Center, where she attends alongside her studies at Pinelands. Patch reported that she finished the CPR training on a Thursday, and the rescue happened that Saturday night. The school requires First Aid and CPR as part of the application for the Child Development Associate credential.

Cherie Garrison Horhay, owner of Hands-on CPR Training in Toms River, taught the First Aid portion of the class. She learned of the rescue on the following Monday, while teaching at the school, according to NJ 101.5. Horhay told the outlet that “knowledge is power” and that knowing what to do in an emergency gives a person the power to act.

Leonardis’s instructor, Michelle Keenan, told NBC10 that the speed of the response stood out, saying that applying the knowledge “two days later” “just speaks volumes.” NJ 101.5 quoted her as saying, “Ariana was so brave and calm that she was able to act and apply her knowledge.” The Asbury Park Press quoted Keenan describing Leonardis as an excellent student.

Riley Porter’s 911 Call and a Spanish Lesson

While Leonardis worked on the baby, Porter called 911 and told the dispatcher the infant was not breathing, according to NBC10. The Asbury Park Press spells his first name Ryley and also credits him with the call. Porter told NBC10 that a Spanish lesson from the week before helped him understand what the parents were saying.

Reports differ slightly on how the cousins learned to call. Patch and NJ 101.5 reported that a woman at the scene, who said she did not speak much English, told them to call 911, and Leonardis told Patch that after her cousin called the police, the baby’s mother told her the baby was not breathing. Both accounts agree that Leonardis began CPR before EMS and police arrived. Leonardis said, in the words NJ 101.5 reported, that she “performed CPR and got her three-week-old baby to breathe again, and shortly after, EMS and police arrived.”

How Infant CPR Works, According to the Red Cross

Basic CPR for a baby differs from CPR for an adult, and the American Red Cross lays out the steps. The first is to check that the scene is safe and to get consent from a parent or guardian. Next comes a check for responsiveness: shout, tap the bottom of the baby’s foot, and shout again, taking up to 10 seconds. If the baby does not respond and is not breathing or is only gasping, the Red Cross says to call 911, or to have someone else call.

The baby goes on a firm, flat surface, on the back. For compressions, the Red Cross says to place two thumbs side by side on the center of the chest, just below the nipple line, and to push “hard down and fast about 1 ½ inches at a rate of 100 to 120 per minute,” allowing the chest to return fully after each push. If that depth cannot be reached, a one-hand technique is an option.

After 30 compressions, the Red Cross says to give 2 breaths, tilting the head back and lifting the chin to a neutral position, and blowing for about one second while watching for the chest to rise. If the chest does not rise, the head should be retilted and the seal rechecked. If the second breath also fails, the Red Cross notes that an object may be blocking the airway. The cycle of 30 compressions and 2 breaths repeats until the baby shows an obvious sign of life, an AED is ready, another trained responder takes over, EMS arrives, the rescuer is too exhausted to continue or the scene becomes unsafe. A rescuer who is alone with the baby calls 911 after about 2 minutes of CPR.

Thanks From Responders and a Kindness Certificate

The coverage does not name the baby, the parents or the specific police department and ambulance squad involved, and it describes no formal township or police commendation. Patch reported that responders praised Leonardis, took her information and thanked her. The Asbury Park Press published a photo of her holding a Random Acts of Kindness certificate alongside Horhay.

Her mother, Kirah Leonardis, told NBC10 that she gets emotional thinking about how her daughter “not only saved a life” but “executed it perfectly.” She told the Asbury Park Press she was “absolutely beyond proud.”

Leonardis wants to become a preschool teacher, the Asbury Park Press reported. She is also a cheerleader, plays girls lacrosse and belongs to Girl Scouts Troop 516.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Trent A. Henry – Public domain/Wikimedia Commons