Man Saved by Good Samaritan with LifeVac – #399

LifeVac announces our 399th life saved.

It was reported to us that on June 20th a  52-year-old male choked on a hamburger after going through the drive-thru at Mcdonald’s. He knew he was in distress and was not getting any air and pulled out of the parking lot to the side of the road. His daughter got out of the car and frantically yelled for someone to stop.  A woman with 2 young children in the car stopped. After seeing he was choking she ran to the car and grabbed her LifeVac.  She used the device through the driverside window.  She made sure he was okay afterward and then had to get back to her young children that were in the car.

“My daughter and I stop for fast food. As I then exited the drive-through I took a bite of my hamburger, turned my head to the left to look for traffic, and swallowed. Immediately it felt like it did not go down. I took a quick sip of a drink and it backed up into my nose. I took a breath just to quickly realize, that nothing is going in. I said to myself, OMG you’re choking. I had to secure my vehicle onto the side of the road.  I pointed to my throat and tried to take a breath. I indicated motion towards my belly Heimlich So she begins to strike me on the back of my neck and pushed 2x into my stomach and jumped out of the car. I lurched now out of sheer desperation to try to get a breath to cough, but nothing. I thought this is how I’m going to die. Choking. I’m 286 pounds.  I thought I need the Heimlich.  I tried to get out of the seat but was overwhelmed with the intense need to breathe. I tried again and nothing happened as I was flailing about trying to get out. Quickly realized my daughter’s screams were fading out and the world was moving in slow motion and everything got distant. I remember then gasping for breath and looking at this young mother holding something in her left hand. I said I was choking, she looked at me and said I know. I got it, you’re okay. It took a few minutes of coughing tears running and breathing to finally compose myself.   I asked what it was, she replied it’s my LifeVac.

My daughter said she was waving her arms and screaming when this woman in an SUV with two kids in the back stopped and ran up to our vehicle When she asked what was going on my daughter screamed to her my Dad is choking. The woman turned around and ran back to her vehicle. She came back carrying a device she got out of her diaper bag according to my daughter. She then reached into the open window. Mushed it onto my face and plunged it two times and out popped what was choking me to death. She said I knew you were too big for me to try the Heimlich Maneuver even with your daughter’s help to get you out of the car to attempt the Heimlich maneuver. I just went right for my Life Vac. She made sure ai was OK and then returned to her vehicle and her family. Thank God for this LifeVac.”