8-Year-Old Girl Sees Mom’s Boyfriend Choking, Saves His Life With Heimlich She Learned Weeks Earlier

(Courtesy of Tabitha Parker)

One Florida man owes his life to an 8-year-old girl who performed the Heimlich maneuver on him, successfully dislodging a bit of food lodged in his windpipe.

On Jan. 9, 2022, Bradenton resident Michael Langston was at home, leisurely playing video games on a Sunday, when he took a bite of a sandwich and immediately started choking. He tried to wash it down, but to no avail.

“I realized as soon as I took the drink, it spat back out,” he told Fox 13. “I started freaking out for a second, I tried it again, and I did it again, and at that moment, I realized I couldn’t breathe.”

Video surveillance footage in the living room shows the moment Michael began panicking before rushing out of the room to the kitchen to get his girlfriend’s 6-year-old son, Keegan.

(Courtesy of Tabitha Parker)

“He was patting his chest, so I realized he was choking,” Keegan told the station.

Fortunately, he knew just what to do: fetching his 8-year-old sister, Peyton, who just weeks earlier had learned the Heimlich maneuver from her mom, Michael’s girlfriend, Tabitha Parker.

The footage shows Michael rushing into Peyton’s bedroom and her wrapping both arms around his waist. With two thrusts, she dislodged the obstruction from his windpipe.

“I just jumped up and started doing it,” Peyton recalled.

Her mom, Tabitha, a paramedic in Manatee County, recently used the emergency maneuver on her son, Keegan, who was choking on a piece of bacon, and had cleared the obstruction. After the incident, she thought it prudent to teach her daughter and boyfriend the Heimlich.

Young Peyton put that knowledge to good use—saving Michael’s life.

(Courtesy of Tabitha Parker)

“As soon as I got home from work, we immediately went to the fair to get ice cream,” Tabitha said. “Because that’s something to reward her for. But I don’t think she truly understood the gravity of what she did.”

That same day, the mom posted the footage on Facebook, giving her daughter full credit in the caption:

“She didn’t panic or freeze. She responded in the moment. She watched me yank her brother up two months ago when he started choking on bacon and couldn’t breath and do the Heimlich. And I taught her and Mike how to do it that night so they were prepared in an emergency and today I’m proud to say it paid off.“

Michael said he owes his life to the quick-thinking young lady, and her brother.

“I'd be dead if it wasn’t for them,” he said. “If he never responded the way he did, he knew what it was, and got to her, and she remembered what she was taught, I’d be dead. And it’s just mind-blowing.

“You know, it’s scary, but I’ve never been more proud.”

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