It was a day she’ll always remember, and one that no one will forget. And as each person played their role, the unified effort resulted in what can only be described as a miracle.

Sharon Thompson sat down on her couch with her son Alexander cuddled in her arms. The one-year-old dozed off laying across her chest, but then she noticed his body wasn’t moving up and down. She turned his face toward hers. Alexander looked pale. His lips, purple.

Thompson’s heart started racing so fast she thought it would burst out of her chest, the Aurora mother recalled. Adrenaline rushed through her. She fought through her shock, laid Alexander on his back and performed CPR for about a second, she said. Then Thompson grabbed her phone and called 911, shouting for her daughter to open a door for paramedics.

On the other end of the phone was Julie McKay, an emergency dispatcher with Aurora911. Within two minutes of answering, McKay was walking Thompson through infant CPR. Two breaths. Thirty chest compressions. Repeat until help get there.

Seven minutes later, first responders arrived to take over. The first on scene was an Aurora Police Officer, followed by a fire battalion chief, who jumped into provide the CPR.

Alexander regained a pulse.

Paramedics continued working on him throughout his Aug. 11 ride to the hospital. Three days later, Alexander went home to his family, and without signs of brain impairment, a city spokesman said.

The nine first responders who helped save Alexander were honored on Tuesday with the Phoenix Award, an award first responders can receive for taking life-saving action. They were Captain Joe Hill, Lieutenant Patrick Taylor, Fire Medic Michael Wu, Engineer Dave Hamam and Fire Medic Bryant Snow with Aurora Fire Rescue; Aurora Police Department Officer Daniel Kennicutt; McKay from Aurora911; and EMT Tee Than and Medic Kenneth Mackey from Falck Rocky Mountain EMS.

“You guys are heroes. You guys are angels,” Thompson said during the award ceremony, with Alexander on her hip. “I’m celebrating also Alexander’s life. I thought my baby was gone.”

What Thompson didn’t know on Tuesday was that she would also be recognized for her role in saving Alexander’s life. Thompson cried as city official surprised her with a Phoenix Award of her own. She cried as they pinned the honor to her jacket.

“Remember, this started with the citizen providing care and activating the system,” Aurora Fire Rescue Chief Allen Robnett said.

Robnett called everyone’s response on Aug. 11 “a tremendous victory.” Public safety work takes a village, he said. Police Chief Dan Oates said he was proud of the police response that day, too.

Dr. Eric Hill, the Aurora Fire Rescue medical director, said the case caught his attention as an award-worthy incident because it was an example of all the first responder agencies — and a citizen — working together in unison.

Hill wanted “to recognize, you know, when something truly amazing happens,” he said.

Bringing the family and first responders together in-person was important for two more reasons, he said. The first was to give first responders closure. They do not usually get to see the final outcome of an incident they respond to, he said. The second was to bring the family closure. Survivors don’t always get to meet or thank the first responders who help them in a crisis.

It takes dedication and heart to handle calls like Thompson’s, said Tina Buneta, the Aurora911 director. She noted it was the second time in five months that the department honored the dispatcher, McKay, for “her skilled and calm” work.

Echoing Hill, Buneta said bringing dispatchers closure help support their emotional resiliency.

“Particularly in 911, it’s like you begin the first chapter of a novel and put the book down,” Buneta said.

McKay thought Alexander died, she said. The dispatcher’s voice trembled as she reflected on not knowing for sure what had happened to the baby after first responders arrived and she hung up the phone.

That part of the job is scary, she said. She could tell Thompson was trying to stay calm, but also that she “sounded on the edge of franticness.” Helping a “mom get through the hardest thing in her life,” or assisting whoever calls 911, is what makes the work worth it, she said.

“It’s very fulfilling,” she said.

Thompson’s family still does not know why Alexander stopped breathing. Doctors are stumped, Thompson said. He might have had a seizure, or complications from the respiratory illnesses RSV and COVID-19, they’ve theorized.

Alexander remained intubated at Children’s Hospital Colorado for three days after the incident, she said, but the hospital stay brought no answers. One week after his release, he had another episode, Thompson said, and was hospitalized again. Alexander is still going to doctor’s appointments in hopes they can determine a cause.

Thompson, also a certified nursing assistant, wanted other parents to know how important a little training can be, she said. If she didn’t know how to perform CPR well, her son’s medical emergency could have been worse.

“And just to love their child and appreciate they are with us every single day,” she said.