On May 20th, 2024 a 2-year-old girl choked on a peanut butter & jelly sandwich resulting in a total obstruction. Protocol was followed but was unsuccessful. LifeVac removed the obstruction on its second use. The child’s mother describes the incident as follows:
“A day I will never forget. Every detail of that day replays in my head over & over. It was lunchtime & I gave Violette a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just like I do almost everyday, because for the past 2 weeks it’s been something she’s asked for almost daily. I sat her in her high chair & I put the movie frozen on for her. I walked away to my room for less than 5 minutes & all of a sudden I hear her banging on the high chair. So I walk back to the living room and find her choking. She was red and gagging so I take her out of the high chair and start patting her back. I am also CPR & First aid trained so I know what to do when someone is choking. I try to stay calm & I was at first but then I realized that protocol was not helping. I had her down at an angle while hitting her back as I was taught but when that didn’t help that’s when I really started to panic. I started screaming for my 6-year-old to get the phone and call 911. I’ll never forget the look on her face, like mommy please save me. At that point I really started to panic, my heart was racing & all I kept thinking about was that I had to save my baby. Once that didn’t work I ran to get the Lifevac. Just the other day I had moved it to an easier location to get to. I had this thing for 2 years. I got it as a Christmas gift from my dad. He said “here’s a gift I hope you never use” it’s a line that will stick with me forever. It’s been sitting there for 2 years so I had it in the front room, but for some reason I had moved it to the kitchen where it was closer to me. Anyways, so I grabbed the Lifevac, ripped it open and assembled it. I used it once but it doesn’t work and at this point I’m freaking out because she was already getting worse (I also didn’t do it right because I was in a state of realization that this was something I really had to use). I just couldn’t believe my baby was really choking & I couldn’t help her. So then I tried it again but this time I made sure it was on right, and I pulled and out came a piece of soggy wet bread, she took a deep breath and so did I. I was relived that she could breathe and that this nightmare was over. We still had 911 on the phone & first responders showed up 7 minutes after I called them; that’s a pretty great time, but for Violette it wouldn’t have been enough. She was losing oxygen & if she would of waited the full 7 minutes who knows what would have happened (I try to not let my mind go to the gutter, but I know what could have happened. I could have lost my little girl.) If it wasn’t for the LifeVac I don’t know if I would be sitting here writing this today to you. I have my baby because of this product & I will be forever grateful.”
JM
