Baby staying with teacher reunited with family

STAMFORD — Neysel, the newborn whose story captured headlines when his brother’s teacher took him in to protect him from the coronavirus, has been reunited with his family.

Hart Magnet Elementary School teacher Luciana Lira welcomed Neysel’s family — mother Zully, father Marvin and brother Junior — to her Stamford home last week, where a beaming Zully got to hold her 6-week-old son for the first time.

Lira, who is 7-year-old Junior’s teacher at Hart, took the child in after a call from Zully, who told Lira she was sick with the virus while pregnant and had to undergo an emergency C-section.

Zully asked Lira to take her baby home, since her husband and son had tested positive for the virus.

Lira agreed, bringing Neysel home to her husband and 11-yearold son.

“When I answered the phone and heard that cry for help, I knew I had to become involved,” Lira told Hearst Connecticut Media.

In a text message to a Hearst Connecticut Media reporter on Saturday, Lira was overjoyed: “Baby Neysel is home!”

Zully, an immigrant from Guatemala seeking asylum in the United States, was in a coma at Stamford Hospital for about three weeks after Neysel was delivered on April 1.

She had no recollection of making the call to Lira when she awoke from the coma, according to Catalina Horak, executive director of the Stamford nonprofit Building One Community.

“When she first woke up she didn’t remember having the baby,” Horak said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media on Saturday. “The last thing she remembers is being put in an ambulance and being taken to the hospital.”

Horak said while Zully was in the hospital, intubated and in a coma, a lot of behind-the-scenes work went on to ensure Neysel, Lira and her family were supported, as well as support for Marvin and Junior as they recovered from the virus.

Once word got out about Zully’s request and Lira’s response, their story was reported by local, national and international news outlets.

The attention quickly brought offers to help. Among those to step up and assist Lira and her family were Building One Community, a Stamford nonprofit, and Darien-based The Tiny Miracle Foundation. Numerous individuals reached out as well.

“The community came together to purchase the entire baby registry from Target,” Lira said at the time, crediting her friend and co-worker at Hart Elementary School, Luci Santora, for helping her organize the gift registry.

Lira and her family took in the baby on April 7. Until Thursday, his family’s only contact with him was during daily video calls between Lira and Zully.

Marvin holds his son Neysel, 6 weeks, for the first time Saturday in Stamford. Marvin and his family Zully and Junior, 7, now all COVID-19 negative, brought Neysel home from Junior’s teacher Luciana Lira’s house, where she has cared for the baby since his birth.

John Moore / Getty Images