If there’s been one shining light during this pandemic, it’s that kindness can be seen everywhere during these unprecedented times. Communities have been coming together to help each other out.
This certain individual has certainly gone the extra mile on this one. This is a story of something you’d only see in the movies, where a woman helps a family in great need with an extraordinary task.
A Family looking for an angel
Marvin and Zully Escobar are Guatemalan asylum seekers living with their son, Junior Flores, in Stamford, Connecticut.
Like many of us, Marvin and Zully had lost their jobs because of the coronavirus. This left the family with no income, and they also had a baby on the way, putting them in a high crisis.
Already in dire circumstances, their situation only got worse.
With a premature baby on the way, Zully contracted covid-19. Marvin also had reported symptoms. This left the family heartbroken, wondering who could care of their newborn.
With nobody to turn to, and no resources to help them, they reached out to their seven-year-old’s elementary school teacher.
According to the Hartford Courant, she could barely breathe when she placed the call.
“‘Miss Lira?’ she said in Spanish. ‘I need help.’”
ABC7 expanded on that, saying,
“The family reportedly told Lira there was no one in the country who could help them and had listed her as their emergency contact.”
An angel was found
Luciana Lira is a 42-year-old bilingual teacher at Hart Magnet Elementary in Stamford, Connecticut.
When the call came from Zully on April 1st, she didn’t hesitate. Even though no one would have blamed her for any hesitation.
Zully also asked Lira to call Marvin, her husband, and passed on his number.
The Hartford Courant reports,
“At the time, Lira wouldn’t have known Marvin if she walked into him. Her only contact with him was seeing him in the distance on parent-teacher conference night, waving hello.”
But she called him, and he reiterated his wife’s concerns. He feared that both he and his son had covid-19 and that they would infect the baby. He asked if Lira would take on the role of temporary guardian of his newborn.
Imagine being put in this position. Virtual strangers asking the unthinkable. Take their newborn and look after it for the foreseeable future.
Lira tells the Courant he was a mess.
“All he could do is cry. And cry. And cry,” Lira said. “He said, ‘She was five weeks early. I’m just terrified. I don’t know what’s going on in my life.’”
Again, Lira doesn’t hesitate to step up and commit. Even though she has a family of her own at home. Even though, as a teacher, she was still working, albeit virtually.
Not only was she willing to take on this task, she also realized the need to act as an interpreter for the Flores family. She became the go-between for communication between Martin Flores, the hospital, and even the family in Guatemala.
Baby Neysel Flores is Born
Just one day after Zully had made her desperate call to her son’s teacher, baby Neysel Flores was born weighting 5-pounds. He was born via-section because of her circumstances and was in a medically induced coma.
“She was critically ill, to the point where they thought she wasn’t going to make it,” Lira said.
Everyone was thrilled to learn he was born healthy, and despite being premature, Lira was able to take him home with her just five days later. However, by then it had been confirmed that both Martin and Junior Flores did indeed have the coronavirus.
Marvin had a conversation with Lira’s husband, Alex, to make sure he was okay with the arrangement. The green light was given and Lira had to prepare. She hadn’t had a newborn in in her home in over a decade, so there was a lot to get.
Donations rolled in from friends and family, and finally, she was ready.
Zully is currently home, but is still on a long road of recovery before she is well. Until then, she is physically separated from her child, seeing him on zoom or in photographs.
In a Facebook post, Lira’s friend Joy Colon wrote,
“This unselfish act reminds us that our humanity makes us all essential … to each other. How will each of us respond when we are asked to simply show up and help. The nurses at the hospital asked my friend if she was the mother’s sister, or perhaps, a cousin as she was listed as the primary contact, Luciana Lira responded, ‘I’m just a teacher.'”
Luciana Lira is much more than “just a teacher.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the Flores family.
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