VIDEO: Deputy saves unresponsive baby

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A Hillsborough County deputy is being honored as a hero after he helped save the life of a toddler.

CJ Nelson was all smiles at an "Everyday Hero" ceremony outside of the Hillsborough County Tax Collector's office Friday, but when he and deputy Donaldson first met in November, things were a lot more serious.

Donaldson was filling in on a shift at the Tax Collector's Office when a frantic mother ran up to him with her baby. In her arms, Shakira Nelson a little boy who wasn't breathing. Luckily, Donaldson had just been re-trained on infant CPR.

"Our trainer said, 'don't forget, this might be a baby you're saving one day,'" recalled Donaldson. 

After a few seconds of CPR, which Donaldson says felt like an eternity, he had the child breathing again.

"I'd rather approach a gang of bank robbers than have to do CPR on another infant," laughed Donaldson. "I was probably more scared than his mom was."  

Nelson says her son had been suffering from an ear infection. A high fever caused him to stop breathing. A month after the incident he's all better and thankfully all smiles once again.