On December 24th, 2024 a 5-year-old boy choked on chicken fingers outside a Popeye’s resulting in a total obstruction that left him unconscious. Protocol was followed. LifeVac successfully dislodged the food on its second attempt. A Good Samaritan who stepped in to help described the incident as follows:
“His father got him Popeyes on Christmas Eve and we happened to be in the same parking lot. The man ran up to us with his limp son and told us he was choking on a chicken tender. I jumped up and grabbed my LifeVac from the back seat and laid him on the ground and began the process of retrieving the chicken tender and getting his conscious again. When I’d rub his chest, he’d come to a little bit but wasn’t getting much air. After two times with the LifeVac he started to speak and breathe better, I stayed with him until EMS and police arrived and they cleared him to be okay. LifeVac absolutely saved his life; had we not been there that boy would have died; his father had no phone and no idea what to do to dislodge the food.”
JM