Choking Victim Teen Seeking Stranger Who Saved His Life

Cody Kennedy was choking.

He was driving home on Aug. 30 on Ronald Reagan Parkway in Plainfield, Indiana, when he began to feel dizzy and had to pull over.

“I started blacking out a little bit and started going numb, that’s when I realized I needed to stop right then and there and get out,” he said, WXIN reported.

Kennedy pulled over, and he fell right to the ground near the median strip after opening the door.

Within 20 seconds, a man from a UPS vehicle came to his aid.

“He knew what was going on,” Kennedy told WXIN. “I did the Heimlich maneuver sign. He came up and said ‘Buddy, this may hurt a little bit.’”

“He came down and he grabbed his hands around my chest and just one-two-three and the SweeTART came flying out.”

When medics arrived, the UPS driver left. Kennedy didn’t get a chance to ask his name, but he can recall the stranger’s appearance. According to Kennedy, the UPS driver was African-American and wore glasses.

“He had a good-looking beard, it was nice,” Kennedy told WXIN.

Kennedy also didn’t get a chance to thank the man who saved his life.

Helping Others

“I just want to find him to say thank you,” Kennedy told WXIN. “Maybe it wasn’t a big thing to him at the moment but it’s the difference between life and death.”

Kennedy had been working to become a firefighter.

“Something about being in a burning building and helping people, saving their lives, people in their time of need, being that person to help them, I like it,” Kennedy said.

The teen did not expect that he would be the one in need that day—nor did he expect just how grateful he would be to the man who rescued him.

“I could say thank you over and over again, but it won’t stress enough how thankful I am,” he said.

Heimlich Maneuver

Choking occurs when the flow of air is blocked in the throat or windpipe. Two common approaches are employed in this emergency situation—abdominal thrusts and back blows.

The UPS driver performed an abdominal thrust on Kennedy. To dislodge the candy, the UPS driver would have had to stand behind the teen and wrap his warms around the teen’s waist, and use his hands to push on the bottom of the diaphragm.

Another approach is delivering back blows. The choking victim’s upper body should be positioned parallel to the ground. The person helping the victim should use the heel of their hand to hit the back of the victim’s shoulder blades.

According to the Mayo Clinic, in a choking emergency, the victim is encouraged to cough forcefully. Meanwhile, the person lending aid should deliver five back blows and five abdominal thrusts, and continue until the foreign object is dislodged, according to recommendations from The American Red Cross.

The American Heart Association only recommends abdominal thrusts, according to the Mayo clinic. [Correction: AHA also recommend back slaps for children who are choking.]

Abdominal thrusts are also known as the Heimlich Maneuver, named after Dr. Henry Heimlich. Heimlich said that back slaps can cause death by pushing the foreign objects into the windpipe.

From NTD.tv