Captain Joseph Barca, of Yonkers will always remember December 28^th, 1993. After all, it was the day he saved twenty-year-old nursing school graduate, Shammarah Hamideh's, life.

Though the two are good friends now, Hamideh was only two months old when Barca saved her from choking to death. That day, Barca had received an emergency call from Hamideh's family, where he had been told that Hamideh was not breathing.

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Barca (then a sergeant) immediately rushed to the scene. It was there that he had swatted Hamideh's back to get the object out of Hamideh's throat.

Despite ridding Hamideh of what she had been choking on (a mass of mucous), Hamideh was still unable to breathe on her own. Barca quickly began to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Hamideh and began to consistently monitor her blood flow by using two of his fingers to pump her chest.

A radio car arrived on the scene soon after to transfer them to the nearest emergency room. Once the two had reached the emergency room, Hamideh was able to breathe on her own, while Barca diligently watched over her.

When Hamideh's father, Mahmoud, had shown up at the emergency room, he had feared that his daughter was no longer alive. As Barca shared the good news with Mahmoud, Mahmoud had burst into tears of relief.

However, that was not the last time Barca would interact with Hamideh's family. In fact, they had kept in touch over the last twenty years.

Hamideh's parents had immigrated from Palestine and treat Barca with much affection. In fact, Hamideh's parents consider Barca her American father.

Barca, who has three grown children of his own, thinks fondly of this title.

Like her parents, Hamideh has always viewed Barca as another father figure.

And so it was only appropriate for the grown up and engaged Hamideh to send Barca and his wife, Helen, an invitation to her wedding. The wedding is set to take place in Chicago this Friday, August 17^th.  

Hamideh plans to remain in the Chicago area and begin her career as a nurse--a job that, much like Barca's, helps save others every day.

TagsCaptain Joseph Barca, Shammarah Hamideh, Mahmoud Hamideh, Yonkers, Chicago, wedding, Hero, police officer, nurse, emergency room, engaged, career