On June 21st, 2026 an 11 month old boy choked on a claw clip resulting in a total obstruction. Protocol was followed. LifeVac dislodged the obstruction on its third attempt. The child's mother described the incident as follows:
“My son is 11 months old. We had just returned home from visiting my father. It was about 8:45 pm. My daughter had fallen asleep in the vehicle while driving home, and my husband carried her in and laid her on the couch. She is 4 years old and loves to put her hair up in a bun with claw clips and flower barrettes. I can only guess that he must have taken one out of her hair while she was laying on the couch. I stepped outside to get something on the porch and when I came back in, my little son cried. He cried once and then coughed twice like he was gagging. I immediately turned him over on my arm and hit his back several times. But he was gagging pretty hard, and when he inhaled deeply for another cough, he went silent and I realized whatever was in his mouth had gotten lodged. My husband came running. We worked together trying to remove the clip with our fingers and give back blows. Twice we were able to loosen it enough that he gave a cry and one cough, but it always returned to the deep stuck position. He was turning grey colored and his face was appearing swollen from the pressure. I was now panicking, calling 911, screaming for them to send me an ambulance, that my baby was dying. It was then that I remembered that several years back, my cousin’s husband, who is an EMT, had gifted me a LifeVac. I ran and got it and gave it a try. It loosened the clip, but when he cried, it seemed to go right back in. The second attempt, I was shaking so hard that I didn’t have it positioned well. The third attempt brought the clip to the front of his mouth, where we could successfully remove it, and he cuddled up against my husband, crying. The emergency team arrived in very good time, and checked him out, just to be sure that all was well.
We could not thank God enough that night and every day after, that our baby is still with us! And I will never look at the LifeVac the same way! The mercies of God, and the LifeVac are the reasons our son is still able to be cuddled in our arms and his coos and giggles still heard in our home! Thank you for your work and for the amazing product that you are providing! I will thank God over and over for saving my baby, and I would love to have this testimony for LifeVac of one more saved life. It was the most horrific experience I have lived and hope to never live through something like this again. I hope that no family ever has to experience that horror and not have a way to hug their loved one again at the end of the story! It would be lovely if every home could have one of these on hand. I didn’t realize the extent of that gift when my cousin’s husband gifted it to us!”
Megan D.L.C.
