A quick-thinking mum saved her five-year-old daughter from choking on a sweet with techniques she had learned from a video posted just days before.
Tina Jagger was waiting in line to buy lunch for her young daughter, Jessica Cain when a chewy sweet became lodged in the back of the youngster’s throat.
The 39-year-old from Hull, East Yorks., sprang into action after watching a short video that had been posted in response to the sad death of five-year-old Theodore Silvester, who choked on his lunch at primary school earlier this month.
Of the incident, Miss Jagger, who works for bus firm East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS), said she had been to the hairdressers and had bought Jessica some sweets as a treat.
She said: “We had gone into a local bakery because Jessica had said she wanted a snack when suddenly she was tapping me on my leg. I looked down and I could see she couldn’t breathe.
“I looked around. When something like this happens you look around expecting someone to jump in and help you. But everyone froze.
“Jessica’s face had gone really pale. Her lips had lost all colour.
“Then I remembered the advice in the video and I’d also read an article about the poor little boy who had passed away at school.
“I’d only seen the video on the website a few days earlier. I remembered that I had to slap her back hard. Finally, on the fifth attempt, she started breathing.”
Eventually, an elderly woman noticed the sweet being ejected from Jessica’s mouth.
Miss Jagger said: “It was extremely frightening – I’m certain it wouldn’t have been long before Jessica was rendered unconscious, then it would have got really scary.
“I believe I could have lost her had it not been for the video and I’m so grateful to the local paper for having posted it. It has made all the difference.”
Fortunately, Jessica has since made a full recovery although Miss Jagger and her partner, Lee Cain, 41, remain anxious about their daughter’s food intake.
Miss Jagger said: “We are now petrified every time she eats something.”
In the video, Hull mum Jodie Beasley, who runs Mini First Aid, demonstrates what to do from the moment a child begins choking to the point the paramedics arrive.
There are three steps to remember: Encourage the patient to cough, give them five back blows, followed by five abdominal thrusts.
To view the video, visit: http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/what-to-do-if-a-child-starts-to-choke-demonstrated-in-90-second-video/story-30136142-detail/story.html
