On July 27th, 2024 a 4-year-old boy choked on an earring resulting in a total obstruction. Protocol was followed. LifeVac successfully dislodged the obstruction on its third attempt. The child’s mother described the incident as follows:
“My son choked on a thick metal circular vintage stud earring; the metal part thankfully wasn’t extra sharp. He was 3 at the time, he never put things in his mouth but he was into licking metal at that point. He’s autistic so he likes interesting materials. He holds onto certain objects sometimes but knowing he would lick metal I put them in a place I didn’t think he would find. I was laying on the bed and he was in the closet which I thought nothing of because he likes to line up my mom’s lotions. Suddenly he jumped up freaking out. He starts crying and then you can tell he can’t breathe, he tried to stick my fingers down his throat. I ran him to the living room. I tell my mom to call 911 and she’s freaking out trying to give him back blows. I told her call 911, I need to find the LifeVac. I have seen plenty of videos of it saving children, I always bring it everywhere. I was looking for his backpack I found it quick. I laid him down and she’s freaking out too because he is very strong and he doesn’t understand what I’m doing. I tried 2 times but couldn’t get him to stay still, he’s turning purple. My mom’s freaking out, I’m freaking out but I’m calm, I just knew it’d work while praying to God. I held him down and did it and he took a breath. It didn’t come out but I know it moved to give him air. Mind you I wasn’t sure that he had in his mouth but assumed it was the earring because the black cap he holds with it was in his hand too. I think he licked it and it got in his mouth and he freaked out. He started breathing but was wheezing like something was in there. The cops and EMS came but they were confused on if he even had something in there. So, I started to think it was in my head and I’m like no he was choking! My baby was purple. So went to the ER and the x-ray showed the earring in his esophagus tilted now, then they did surgery to take it out. He is doing great now and is not licking anymore metal after that lol. I just want to say I’m so thankful for this product, I got it in 2022 for just in case. This saved my baby and me because I know I just couldn’t be without him if anything bad happened. So, thank you guys for making this helpful product. It’s a life saver!”
Tasia N.
