Holly’s training helps save choking child

A medical emergency involving your child is every parent’s worst nightmare. For Holly*, bringing work home with her ended up being a good thing last year.

Holly had undertaken first aid training through Red Cross. Since her initial training, she became a mother for the first time, welcoming her son Brody into the family. While at home with then 1 year old Brody in Canterbury last October, she noticed her son was choking.

“He had picked up a 50 cent coin. I had no idea he had this coin, which must have fallen out of my wallet. I was getting him ready for daycare and laid him down on his mat to change him,” Holly explains. “He had put the coin in his mouth and when I laid him down, he gasped. I could see the silver glinting in the back of his throat.”

In that split second, Holly’s first aid training kicked in.

“It was a total reflex. I need to get this thing out and I remember doing back blows in first aid. You’re not hurting him – you’re getting it out. I started doing back blows and the coin came flying out. If I had done a gentle pat on the back, it wouldn’t have worked in that situation.”

Holly believes learning the correct way to help someone while choking was a critical part of her reaction. She says she now lives her first aid training “day-to-day” – remembering the training and how it can save lives.

“It was just insane relief in that moment – more than I can put into words,” she says. “That instant reflex may not have been there if I had not known what to do.

“Choking – with any type of event like that – every second counts.”