Life Saved #1687

On January 18th an 11-month-old boy choked on a square piece of bark resulting in a total obstruction. Here is his mother’s story of the day her son experienced a terrifying choking scare.

“If you have littles in your home get a LifeVac USA kit! Two Christmases ago my husband got me this as a Christmas present after he heard the podcast with Mike Rowe and the inventor of the LifeVac, one for the house and one for our car. At the time I thought this would collect dust and never be used but at least gave peace of mind. For over a year, it just sat in our pantry by the first aid kit. Last night I was making dinner and the twins were sitting in the living room watching their favorite movie, “The Grinch” ( they seriously will just sit and watch it!). I had just vacuumed and was pretty sure that everything that could be a choking hazard was picked up. I had Baby B was in a spot that I could just look over and see him. As I was calling for everyone to come eat I heard him making a cooking noise. So I rushed over and picked him up. I swept his mouth but didn’t feel or see anything. So I told him upside down to give back blows to try to get it out. Having 9 kids I’ve had to do this a few other times, and each time it has worked. Not this time. My daughter immediately asked where the LifeVac was as he started to turn blue. To say this was terrifying would be an understatement. She couldn’t find it right away and I ran in the holding him to grab the LifeVac. My son immediately took it and put it together while I told her to call 911. At this point, his whole face was blue as he was struggling, but he was still conscious. Once the LifeVac was put together I tried once but it only brought foam out of his nose and mouth. The second was also unsuccessful. At this point, I didn’t think it would work and the ambulance still wasn’t there. I tried one more time and he sounded different, so I swept his mouth and was able to get out a page-square piece of bark. He also threw up bile with blood because it was stuck in there. But he was breathing. 8 minutes later the ambulance arrived. If we didn’t have the LifeVac I can’t imagine what scene they would’ve walked into. By the time they arrived, he was babbling happily and chewing on my hand. We still went to the ER to make sure there wasn’t anything else. We were released after a few hours and clear x-rays.”