BELLE — A medical emergency involving a 7-month-old Belle infant ended with a positive outcome this week, after quick action by family members and a rapid response from local emergency crews helped save her life.

According to family members, the incident began suddenly on March 30 after the infant, Arizona Butler, had woken from a nap acting normally before going outside with her father.

Within minutes, that changed.

“She started coughing, and then she started to gag,” her father, Deacon Butler, said. “I picked her up and hit her on the back. She puked up mostly mucus.”

At first, the episode appeared to pass. But soon after, the baby began experiencing repeated coughing and choking spells, each time bringing up mucus. As the episodes continued, her condition worsened.

“After about three or four times of that happening, she got real lethargic,” he said. “I couldn’t really keep her awake. She just wanted to lay down and go to sleep.”

When the child’s mother, Raeanna Butler, entered the home she recognized the severity of the situation.

“She looked really pale and kind of blue,” she said. “I immediately called mom and asked her to come over and help. I grabbed the bulb that sucks snot out, and I started using suction on her nose.”

Her mother, Tammy Coborn, arrived and took over lifesaving efforts.

“By the time mom got there, she was really, really lethargic. She was dropping her head down and going limp every time she would cough, almost like she was just going unconscious, and we weren’t getting any responses out of her,” Raeanna Butler said.

“When I got there, her eyes were rolling back in her head. There was no response at all,” Tammy Coborn said. “When we got out to the van, at that point, she quit breathing.”

Tammy Coborn instructed her daughter to call 911 and cleared the infant’s airway so she could breathe again.

“I plugged her nose and put my mouth over hers and sucked as hard as I could. At that point, she started coughing and gagging again,” Tammy Coborn said. “I flipped her over and started just patting her back really hard, getting her to throw up the stuff. She threw up mucus two more times after that. She was breathing, but still kind of in and out of it.”

Emergency responders arrived shortly after the call, with Belle City Marshal Jerry Coborn among the first on scene. Jerry Coborn said he approached the situation as he would any emergency, but he certainly recognized the address.

“It came across 911 as an infant that was unconscious, unresponsive. I just proceeded to treat it like any other call,” Jerry Coborn said. “The only difference was that I recognized the address.”

“Within 30 seconds of getting the call, Tammy had already done life saving measures as far as getting her to start breathing on her own,” he said. “But she was very unresponsive … head dropping and that kind of stuff.”

The infant was transported by ambulance to Phelps County Medical Center, where responders continued closely monitoring her condition. During the ride, the child experienced repeated episodes of coughing followed by lethargy, while oxygen levels fluctuated between 85 and 93 percent, indicating ongoing respiratory distress despite initial improvement.

Amid that uncertainty, the child’s mother said the gravity of the moment became overwhelming.

“I was at a loss for words. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare,” she said. “The only thing that I know to do right now is just to pray, because I felt like we were gonna lose her.”

Upon arrival at the hospital, medical staff worked quickly to determine the cause, with as many as 15 providers involved in her care, said  Raeanna Butler.

Responders continued working to stabilize the infant as they tried to determine the cause of her condition. The child’s mother said she was advised to try breastfeeding in an effort to provide hydration and energy.

“She ate for about five minutes, and then projectile vomited everything,” Reanna Butler said. “She kind of got real tired afterwards, and acted like she was gonna go to sleep.”

A few minutes later, the infant vomited again, but her condition began to shift.

“And then she started acting normal,” she said.

She said the shift in her child’s condition came shortly after Belle City Marshal Jerry Coborn prayed with the family, a moment she believes coincided with the child’s sudden improvement.

Medical personnel later told the family the most likely cause was a mucus plug combined with laryngeal spasms, which temporarily blocked the child’s airway.

“She started acting normal… touching my face,” her father said. “Within another five minutes, she was sitting up… acting completely normal.”

The infant was later transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where doctors continued working to determine the cause of the episode. The child’s mother said medical staff conducted extensive testing and carefully evaluated multiple possibilities.

“They did everything that they could to just figure out what it was,” she said. “They looked at all the possibilities.”

She said hospital staff provided consistent updates throughout the process, meeting with the family every two hours to explain what had been done and what they were continuing to investigate.

Family members credited both the quick response of local emergency crews and the actions taken at home in those critical first moments.

The family also expressed gratitude to first responders and hospital staff for their professionalism and reassurance during the ordeal. One ambulance crew member made it a point to tell them that they did everything correct.

“He reassured him that they did everything right. They did the right steps. That helps when you’re panicked and you rethink everything you did,” Tammy Coborn said. “You’re like, did I do this right? Did I do that right? Is it my fault? I mean, all these things are running through your head. Telling them they did everything right, they did the right steps, and that it wasn’t their fault really helped.”

On April 6, Arizona Butler had a recurrence of the medical episode and was transported to Barnes-Jewish Hospital where she is currently undergoing further tests.