A mother from Detroit, Michigan is issuing an warning to parents, guardians and minders to learn the Heimlich manoeuvre for the benefit and safety of all children.
Emma Caver and her 2-year-old son, Ayyan Umar were grocery shopping last week when he tried to eat the store’s grapes from the cart, WXYZ reports.
Emma was browsing through items when her son started choking on a grape. She started tapping his back to dislodge the grape from his throat.
“I even threw the cheese down and I started banging on him,” Emma explained.
“But it wasn’t getting it out, so it had to be lodged.”
A shopper tried to perform CPR on the child while another shopper called an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived in five to seven minutes. The paramedics were able to remove the grape remnant from Ayyan's throat but tragically he had already passed on. He was taken to hospital where he had another grape remnant removed.
“I was feeling like maybe it was a bad dream, maybe somebody gonna wake me up,” says his father Mohammad Umar. “He sleeps on my chest. I see him everywhere.”
The parents have signed up to take first aid classes but expressed regret not having taken them sooner. They encourage everybody to take first aid classes.
You can find out about first aid classes in your area on the Red Cross website. You can visit the Irish Red Cross and the British Red Cross websites for more information.
You can also check out your local fire department, to see if they offer free classes.
