Twelve-year-old Charlie Loverme thought he was going to die when a piece of mozzarella cheese got lodged in his throat in the school cafeteria.
School surveillance footage shows the Massachusetts middle-schooler standing up from his chair and waving his hands toward his throat, Good Morning America reported. His classmates were shocked and confused about what was happening and some thought Loverme was about to be sick. One boy scooted his chair away from Loverme.
“I was just really scared because I thought I was going to pass out or die,” Loverme told Good Morning America.
His twin sister Amelia was sitting one table over and immediately rushed to her brother’s aid. Without any proper training, she administered the Heimlich maneuver on her twin brother, the Daily Mail reported.
‘It was just instinct,’ Amelia said. “I didn’t really know what to do, I just felt like I had to help him.”
The twins’ mother Christy Ruth said she is ‘grateful’ for her daughter’s quick thinking.
“This is the stuff you hope and pray never, ever to happens to one of your children,” Ruth said. “Kids need to pay attention and look out for one another, and I’m just grateful that Amelia did.”
Every five days, a child will die from choking, according to the New York State Department of Health.
If someone is choking, the American Red Cross advises to bend them forward and hit them firmly in between their shoulder blades five times.
“Back blows create a strong vibration and pressure in the airway, which is often enough to dislodge the blockage. Dislodging the blockage will allow them to breathe again.”
If this does not work, hold the person around the waist and thrust inward and upward five times. This is known as abdominal thrusts, or the Heimlich maneuver. You can read more detailed instructions here.
ConsciousChokingPoster by Breitbart News on Scribd
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