Saturday, April 21, 2007

Fate? Destiny? Boy saves friend's life with Heimlich manoeuver

With all the negative news that the media reports, it's always refreshing and uplifting to find a good news story, especially when it involves young people.

Probably hundreds of thousands of people taking a CPR course also received instruction on using the Heimlich manoeuver to help dislodge a person choking on an object. There are two levels with one for adults and another for children and babies. Few people actually expect to use it least of all a young boy who saved the life of his friend using the Heimlich.

If ever there was a case for fate and being in the right place at the right time, this story will make you a believer.

Last Wednesday, Travis Hayes of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, CA, was in his 6th grade classroom sucking on a peppermint candy when a fellow classmate did something funny that made him laugh. Somehow during his laughter, the peppermint somehow slipped down and became lodged in his windpipe. Upon realizing that the young boy was choking, his teacher used the Heimlich manoeuver but couldn't remove the candyand a trip to an adjoining classroom to get assistance was unfruitful.

Fellow classmate, Tristan Unsworth who was a skateboard buddy of Travis, assumed that his friend might be fooling around but upon seeing saliva dripping out of Travis's mouth and his facing turning red, he realized his friend was in stress and choking. As luck would have it or some would call it fate, Tristan having taken a babysitting course that included a life saving technique given by the school in February, knew exactly what to do. He wrapped his arms around his friend's stomach and dislodged the candy with one strong abdominal thrust. Taking it all in his stride once Tristan saw and heard Travis cough, he cooly walked back to his seat.

Talk about a good friend! As mentioned he was in the right place at the right time...

Fate? Destiny? Luck?


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