On April 10th, 2024, a 2-year-old boy choked on a metal shelf bracket resulting in a partial, then total, obstruction. Back blows were performed but were unsuccessful. LifeVac successfully removed the obstruction in the first application.
Here is his grandfather’s story:
“We’re his grandparents and were watching him for our daughter who is a nurse practitioner. He was in a guest bedroom watching TV. Mind you, we thought we had childproofed the entire floor, as he is not allowed in the basement. “This includes guards over stove knobs, child-proof latches/locks on every cabinet and drawer, child-proof outlets throughout the house, toys examined for choking hazards, objects on counters unreachable, etc. The additional rooms that are off-limits are usually kept closed and have an additional gate that so far he can’t unlatch.
“During breakfast, my wife heard the guest bedroom slam and a few seconds later heard him cough; upon checking on him, she yelled at me and said he was choking, he was sputtering and rasping for breath, and by this time, she had taken him to the adjacent bathroom as she was holding him by his belly over her arm and patting him on the back trying to dislodge anything.I patted him several more times with a little more force with no results.Nothing was dislodging.She looked in his mouth but couldn’t see anything and could not feel anything. She told me to call our neighbor (a retired nurse) but then I remembered that my wife had got one of the LifeVacs and I retrieved it from the closet.He was in distress this whole time and my wife thinks that by this time he couldn’t breathe at all. We put him on the floor, chin up, and my wife held the small mask on him to ensure a good seal, I compressed it and pulled it sharply and it popped out.It was a metal shelf bracket from an adjustable shelf on one of two nightstands.We were both stunned at the fact that it came out and at what it was.”
“My wife and I are both convinced that your device saved him from a dire, threatening situation and most likely his life. I never envisioned that we would have to use the LifeVac, and you pray you’d never have to, but I have to admit there’s always that thought in the back of your mind… Is it going to work?But we can attest that it is in fact a lifesaver and every home and car should have one. Thank you.”
Adan G.
