CAMPBELL — Seven-year-old Isys Robinson doesn’t have memories of why Rick Chaeff is “Uncle Rick,” but she knows why he is so important to her.

“He saved my life,” Isys said. “And he’s funny.”

Hamming it up with Isys is second nature to Chaeff, a longtime Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy, as he recently humored her attempts to give him an impromptu toupee in the form of a stuffed otter.

Isys was all of 17 days old when Chaeff performed CPR and revived her outside Goodie’s Good Eats in Campbell in June 2010.

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Campbell: Fast-acting deputy performs CPR to save 17-day-old baby But Isys knows Chaeff more as the man who has kept in touch with her over the years — her family since moved to Nacogdoches, Texas — and during their most recent reunion in the South Bay in the past couple of weeks, taught her some new swimming moves.

“We went swimming, and he showed me how to go off the diving board,” Isys said.

Back at the same cafe where her grandmother Maria Habiger rushed to plead for help from Chaeff and Deputy Mike Laddy, the 57-year-old Chaeff is just as astounded about the encounter as he was when it happened seven years ago.

“It’s the most heartwarming thing you can imagine,” Chaeff said. “It doesn’t always turn out that well.”

There was a swarm of media attention around the infant Isys and Chaeff the day of the rescue, and eventually it died down. But her family wanted to keep their guardian angel close, and they’ve reunited regularly and kept him up to date with notes and photos of the ever-growing Isys.

“He’s definitely a part of the family,” Habiger. “And it’s amazing how he is with her. She totally trusts him.”

That goes the same for Habiger, who still has crystal clear memories of when she rushed into the cafe a half block away from her home with Isys, who wasn’t breathing. She entered initially because she saw the patrol vehicles in the lot and thought she could get a police escort to the hospital.

But fate would shine down kindly on the family, because they got something far better: Chaeff, tactical medical team leader for the SWAT team, CPR expert and licensed chiropractor.

The deputy rushed outside with his partner and went to work. After several attempts to breathe into her, the fifth time was the charm, and Chaeff remembers he has succeeded when baby Isys pushed him away.

It would be the first and only time; ever since, she’s only pulled him closer, which she did repeatedly when they met again at Goodie’s for brunch Friday.

That’s when Isys, now bespectacled and full of boundless energy, told him about her plans to become an astronaut.

“So I can jump on the moon,” she explained.

Chaeff considers the encounter one of greatest successes he’s had in a law-enforcement career that continues through 27 years.

“I’ve had a very good career,” Chaeff said. “But because it’s lasted this long, it’s at the top. This is what the job’s really for.”

Chaeff also continues to show gratitude to the family for including him in Isys’ life, which he recognizes was above and beyond what they had to do.

“It just gets better,” he said. “I’m grateful to the whole family that they keep me involved.”

Her grandmother says there was no question about it.

“Without him, we wouldn’t have her,” Habiger said. “He’s Uncle Rick for life.”