Mother Can't Bear To Watch as Officers Try To Save Her Choking 14-Month-Old Baby
I once had to save a person who was choking to death on a piece of food, and it was possibly the worst experience of my life. It didn’t help that the person was my father.
He was very ill at the time, and when he choked, I started performing the Heimlich maneuver — to no avail. My father’s movements slowed, his skin took on a blueish cast, and I understood exactly what would happen if I couldn’t get the offending obstruction out of his airway.
“Keep doing it,” my wife (who is also a nurse) told me. And I did for minute after long minute until he finally spat out a thick glob of pasta.
Ana Graham of Wellington, Florida, had a very similar experience, only the choking person was her 14-month-old daughter. Little Lucia was enjoying a chicken nugget at the Palm Beach Gardens Mall in the middle of July.
It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for the little girl. She’d started snarfing on solid foods at the tender age of 9 months.
However, on that particular trip, something went wrong. Graham looked over and realized her daughter’s life was in danger.
“On her second bite, I noticed she looked at me with her eyes wide open,” Graham told The Palm Beach Post. “She started turning red,” she said.
The Sun-Sentinel reported that she yelled, “Please call 911!” But she didn’t have to wait that long.
A pair of Palm Beach Gardens police officers seemed to materialize by her side. In truth, they’d been on their lunch break in the mall’s food court.
“It was just the right place at the right time,” Officer Robert Ayala said. He grabbed Lucia and started trying to clear her airway.
Meanwhile, Officer Rafael Guadalupe radioed in the incident before trying to calm Graham. It was a tough task.
“I remember at some point just turning away,” Graham said. “Because I can’t see what’s going to happen.”
While Graham hid her face, Ayala pounded on Lucia’s back. Then he thrust a finger into her mouth — and found nothing.
Finally, he laid her over his knee struck her on the back again, which did the trick. Lucia spat out the slimy nugget.
WPEC printed a portion of the thank-you letter Graham later sent to the officers. “There are not enough words to express my immense gratitude,” she wrote.
“You were quick to assess the situation and proceeded to do exactly what my daughter Lucia needed to do to pass the chicken lodged in her throat. God knew you were right next to us to help us.”
For her part, Lucia was just fine. In fact, after she could breathe again, she told her mother that she was hungry and wanted to finish her lunch.
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