HOUSTON (AP) 鈥 Sandy Le贸n has worn many jersey numbers during a long career in Major League Baseball.
To understand the gravity of the No. 12 that adorns the catcher鈥檚 uniform this season with the Texas Rangers, he has to revisit the worst day of his life.
That was Aug. 18, 2020. Le贸n, then playing for Cleveland, had just arrived by bus to the team hotel in Pittsburgh when he called his wife, Liliana, who was at home in Fort Myers, Florida, with
He was growing concerned after several unanswered calls. Then he began getting alerts from his home security system.
鈥淭hat happens when somebody is making a lot of noise in the house, when the camera gets the sounds,鈥 Le贸n said.
He logged onto an app where he can monitor the cameras in their home. He discovered a horrifying scene with Liliana and their then-15-month-old daughter, Nahomy.
鈥淢y wife was screaming, and she was praying,鈥 Le贸n recalled. 鈥淪he was saying words I didn鈥檛 understand. Then I saw (Nahomy) on the ground. She was purple. She was dead.鈥
Little Nahomy had wandered outside and slipped through an open gate to a backyard pool. She fell in the water trying to grab a rubber duck.
When a frantic Liliana discovered her, she was motionless and floating face down in the pool. She jumped in, grabbed the girl and rushed her to the kitchen, where she called 911 while trying to revive her.
Nahomy wasn鈥檛 breathing. The natural color had drained from her tiny body.
鈥淪he looked black, deeply black,鈥 Liliana said. 鈥淚 tried to open her eyes and it was blank. I don鈥檛 see her eyes. All the things that I looked on her, she was dying, she was dying, she was dying.鈥
Liliana hadn鈥檛 been trained in CPR, but she tried it anyway. She pressed on Nahomy鈥檚 chest again and again.
鈥淚 did CPR like five times, but nothing happened,鈥 Liliana said. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 do anything.鈥
Getting no response, she abandoned her resuscitation efforts.
Needing a miracle, she did the one thing she thought could help.
鈥淭he only one who could do something for her was God,鈥 Liliana said. 鈥淪o, I just prayed. Holy spirit help me. Holy spirit help me. Because I knew that my daughter was dying.鈥
She screamed that plea over and over while an ambulance raced to the house. Meanwhile, a terror-stricken Sandy desperately tried to comprehend what he was witnessing on that tiny screen.
Liliana clutched her dying daughter鈥檚 tiny hand. It was then she noticed a small sign that gave her hope.
鈥淚 started to see in her fingers, at the bottom of her fingers, that it was a little bit pink,鈥 Liliana said. 鈥淭hen all of her body color started to change, and she began to look like a normal, live person.鈥
The mother wept as her daughter began showing signs of life.
鈥淭hen she started to breathe,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut it was really, really difficult and really, like, forced.鈥
Relief washed over Liliana.
鈥淚n that moment I was like, 鈥極h my God it happened,鈥欌 she said. "'厂丑别鈥檚 alive again.'"
Paramedics soon rushed in. As they worked on Nahomy, they peppered Liliana with questions about what happened.
The big one: How long was she in the pool?
Liliana didn鈥檛 know. But she told them there was a surveillance camera they could check.
Nahomy was taken to a hospital, sedated and placed on a ventilator while the water was drained from her lungs.
Still unable to reach Liliana, Sandy talked to a neighbor, who provided scant details.
鈥淪he told me (Liliana) brought her back and then the ambulance came,鈥 Sandy said.
Sitting in that faraway room in Pittsburgh, Sandy was at a loss.
鈥淚 was having a hard time at the hotel,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what to do.鈥
Needing help, he called someone from the team. Officials chartered a private jet so he could get to his baby girl immediately.
Liliana was sitting in the hospital room with Nahomy when authorities who saw the video 鈥 which the Le贸ns showed to The Associated Press 鈥 came in to talk to her about what they saw.
鈥淭hey looked at me with that face that something really, really bad happened,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd they told me from the time she fell, until the time you picked her up was 12 minutes.鈥
Twelve minutes.
鈥淲hen I heard them say that she was in the pool for that long, I broke down,鈥 Sandy said. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥槼С蟊疴檚 not coming back.鈥欌
Doctors warned the family that even if Nahomy awoke, she was almost certain to have brain damage because of how long she was in the water.
They cautioned that she might not be able to walk, talk or do everyday things that people take for granted. The next 72 hours, they said, would be crucial in discovering what toll this had taken on Nahomy.
Sandy arrived in Fort Meyers at about 8 p.m. that night. He was not prepared for what he saw.
鈥淪he was in the bed with all the tubes, and she still wasn鈥檛 breathing by herself,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t was tough. I didn鈥檛 know what to do. I went to my wife, and I just hugged her.鈥
The couple spent that night in the small room with their little girl as she fought for her life.
A groggy Sandy woke up at 6:30 the next morning and couldn鈥檛 believe his eyes.
鈥淚 saw my daughter on her knees on the bed,鈥 he said. 鈥湷С蟊疴檚 awake. I don鈥檛 know what happened.鈥
By 10 that morning, she was breathing by herself. She started talking immediately when tubes were removed from her throat.
鈥淪he just said: 鈥楶api you鈥檙e here,鈥欌 Liliana recalled. 鈥淗e said: 鈥榊es, I鈥檓 here baby, with you.鈥欌
The Le贸ns were encouraged, but doctors still cautioned that Nahomy could have physical difficulties. But later that day, they removed the remainder of the tubes and put her on the floor.
鈥淎nd she started running,鈥 Sandy said. 鈥淭he doctors couldn鈥檛 believe it.鈥
Nahomy spent a few days in the hospital recovering and undergoing tests to make sure she was OK. Everything came back clean, and the family got to go home. The medical team told the Le贸ns they couldn't explain Nahomy's recovery. A few called it a miracle.
厂丑别鈥檚 and has no lingering effects from the harrowing experience. She鈥檒l turn 4 later this month and revels in being a girly girl,
鈥淪he really likes to think she is a princess,鈥 Liliana said. 鈥淪he really loves her dad. 厂丑别鈥檚 a daddy鈥檚 girl. And she loves to sing, dance. She is a normal girl.鈥
The Le贸ns shared their story with the AP before news this weekend that the 2-year-old daughter of Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker in a swimming pool at the family's home.
Last year, several family members were reminiscing about what happened to Nahomy and her remarkable recovery in a group text. Someone suggested to Sandy 鈥 a journeyman catcher who has now worn seven different numbers with six teams 鈥 that he change to No. 12 to mark that interminable time she spent in the pool.
It wasn鈥檛 available last year in Minnesota. But when he joined the Rangers this season, he finally got the number that means so much to his family.
And each time he buttons up that jersey and puts the No. 12 across his back, he says a little prayer to give thanks that the number didn鈥檛 take his away.
鈥淚 feel blessed and grateful every time I go onto the field knowing that she鈥檚 normal and nothing happened,鈥 he said. 鈥淪he has no idea, but it鈥檚 so special for me.鈥
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