This 12-Year-Old Boy Saved His Friend’s Life When He Started Choking In School
At Liberty Middle School in Cumming, Georgia, 12-year-old Christian Swope attends the 6th grade.
Christian was sitting down to eat his lunch one Wednesday earlier this month when he noticed something was wrong.
One of Christian’s friends started choking, and this boy was not able to breathe.
A press release from the Newton County Schools says that Christian ran over to him and was able to successfully perform the Heimlich on his friend.
The food that his friend was choking on was dislodged, and he saved his friend’s life that day. The rest of the class stood up and clapped for Christian, calling him a “lifesaver.”
“My friend was choking and couldn’t breathe,” Christian said about his heroic efforts that day in school.
“My Auntie is a nurse and she taught us how to do CPR and the Heimlich so I wasn’t scared because I knew what to do.”
Christian’s aunt, Ms. Mercy Aguilar, is a nurse, and she’s the one who thought it would be important for him to learn the Heimlich, as well as CPR.
Newton County Schools; pictured above is Christian in the middle
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“I have a skeleton that I bought during nursing school so last year I taught my boys how to do different safety moves,” Mercy said.
“I was just so ecstatic and shocked when I found out. When you get a call from the school during the day you don’t expect it to be good news.”
“I was just speechless and absolutely proud when they told me what he did. He actually saved a life.”
“When I was teaching both of them the safety moves, I never in my wildest dreams thought they would ever put them to use,” Mercy continued.
“But he did. I’m absolutely proud of him. He actually got it and was effective using the maneuver.”
Mercy and Keisa Vincent, the Liberty Middle School Principal, both have called Christian a hero for what he did that day.
“Christian stepped in and took charge of the situation and saved his friend’s life,” Keisa pointed out.
“In a situation where many adults may have panicked, Christian was calm and knew what to do. To know how to do the Heimlich maneuver at 12-years old is amazing. He’s definitely a hero in my book.”
Christian was given the Superintendent’s Coin of Distinction, which is an award given to those who go the extra mile and surpass expectations, and very few of them have been given out.
More About:Human Interest
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