A 44-year-old male self-administered LifeVac when choked on sesame chicken causing a total blockage.
“I was home alone as my girlfriend had just left to run an errand, like many of us today, was trying to sneak in a quick bite between emails and video conference calls.
I had gone into the kitchen to grab a few quick bites of sesame chicken when I felt a lump in my throat. I grabbed a glass of water to clear my throat as I have done so many times before, and it was not until the water came all the way back up and out my mouth, I truly understood something was wrong. I immediately tried to swallow, and it was at this moment I realized I could no longer swallow, or breathe through my mouth or nose. I became self-aware at this very moment I was truly choking. I tried my best to stay calm over the next 90 seconds as I went back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom trying to clear the chicken with my fingers or with fluids.
I remember eventually lying on the ground in my bathroom and thinking about my kids, and how they were about to have to grow up without a father. “God please do not let me die on this bathroom floor” I prayed, and at that moment God answered my prayers. At that moment I remembered my kid’s mom had gifted me a LifeVac a few months earlier. I got up, went into the kitchen and as I moved back towards the restroom secured the mask to the unit, lay down on the floor, and self-administered. On the second pull, the chicken dislodged enough for me to cough it out the rest of the way. I remembered as I got my first breath in ~1.5 minutes immediately breaking down as I managed the reality of what had just happened while also realizing I was going to be okay.
I am 100% confident if I had not had my LifeVac I would not have survived that day. It happens that fast. You can’t predict it, there is no demographic for it, and someone may not always be there to help you. What you can do for yourself and your loved ones is be prepared for it. I just hope that through my story other people will realize how precious life is, and how in a single bite it could be gone.” Carl I
