An ESL teacher at Hart Magnet Elementary School in Stamford has gone above and beyond her classroom duties during the pandemic, stepping in to care for the newborn brother of one of her students.

Luciana Lira says she received a panicked call from the mother, Zully, at Stamford Hospital on April 1. The woman, an immigrant from Guatemala, was sick with COVID-19 and 35 weeks pregnant - and she needed a translator for her husband.

"She said, "I can't really talk because I can't breathe. But I just wanted to ask for your help. Please call my husband. Please help my son--please, please!'" says Lira.

Lira became the family's emergency contact as Zully was intubated and had an emergency cesarean section. Baby Neysel was delivered five weeks early but perfectly healthy.

The child's father and older brother tested positive for COVID-19, though - meaning the baby couldn't go home with them. Lira stepped in to help again and took Neysel home.

"Teachers are essential workers -- we make a difference," says Lira. "Not only on our students' lives, but on their parents' lives too because, especially nowadays, they need so much from us."

Zully was taken off the ventilator April 19 and has been able to see her baby by video call. She's now home recovering but the whole family remains COVID-positive.

Lira initially thought she'd care for the baby for a day or two. 

"I was just a translator when I called that hospital and now I'm mom for a month,” she said.

Lira says she's gotten support from her school community and beyond.

“Miracles have been happening from Day One,” says Lira. “Everybody--people I know, people I don't know are stepping, stepping in and saying, “Mrs. Lira, Luciana, how can I help?"

Both parents worked in a restaurant and lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic. Lira has started a GoFundMe to help them, especially as the medical bills add up.

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