Second grader in Arizona uses Heimlich maneuver to save choking friend: Video

A second-grade student in Arizona was celebrated as a hero — and honored at a school assembly last week — for his quick thinking after saving his friend who choked on his lunch during the school day. had started.

Thomas Conley, an 8-year-old student at Porter Elementary School in Mesa, Ariz., was enjoying lunch with his friend Isaiah, just like he did any other day, on Nov. 14, when his classmate suddenly stood up and walked over to the bench. Staggered and fell. ,

“I heard her crying, so like, ‘What happened?’ And for a moment, I didn’t know what he was doing. But eventually, I realized he was choking, so I decided to do the Heimlich,” Thomas said. KYMA,

Isaiah was about to suffocate on a grape.

Thomas, with a little hesitation, sprang into action and wrapped his arms around his friend’s stomach from behind. Within seconds, he managed to remove the grape from Isaiah’s neck, saving his life.

“I’m so grateful and I wanted him to know how proud I am of him and how grateful I am,” Maria Anderson, Isaiah’s mother, said in a video posted by the Mesa Fire and Medical Department. “He and my son have been friends for a long time.”

Candice Conley, Thomas’s mother, told Fox News Digital Since they both work in the food industry, teaching food and kitchen safety in their home was no easy task. He gave full credit to the essential skills in his son’s arsenal and his bravery.

“I think a lot of people, maybe even some adults, won’t realize that someone is being suffocated. Thomas just knew he had to get air up to pick the grapes,” Conley said.

“We are very proud of him,” the loud mother said. “Thomas is very bright and active – and he’s a really good friend.”

However, Thomas didn’t really think what he did was that big a deal.

“It’s because I don’t want Isaiah to die,” Thomas told KYMA.

His mother also said that Thomas has generally been “very carefree” about the incident.

School officials are painfully aware of how important it was for the 8-year-old to jump into quick action.

Porter Elementary School Principal Kathy Ray told KYMA that a similar, but more tragic, situation occurred at Porter Elementary about seven years ago, in which a special needs student choked to death in the cafeteria.

So, the school rolled out the red carpet to appreciate Thomas’s fearlessness.

Last Tuesday, the Mesa Fire and Medical Department presented Thomas with a certificate in recognition of his actions at a meeting in front of all of his peers.

“Thomas turned a routine lunch time into an extraordinary act of bravery that made a big difference. Seeing his friend in distress, Thomas wasted no time in taking immediate action and saving Isaiah’s life from the suffocating incident.” Mesa Fire Department wrote,

“Join us in applauding this young hero. Thomas, you inspire us to act boldly and with urgency.