Thousands of lives saved!

LifeVac has saved thousands of lives. It provides an invaluable interim between choking rescue and resuscitation with CPR! I wouldn’t be without ours. This video shows how a mum saved her sons life; I wanted to share her story because it can happen to anyone.

Winter’s Story

I had just given birth to our beautiful baby girl, Winter. She was only 13 days old when she suffered a severe airway obstruction. The doctors believed it was remnants from her lungs due to being born via caesarean section. My partner called an ambulance while I began using back slaps and tried to clear her airway. She couldn’t breathe, and I could see the panic on her face. As she continued to turn purple and blue, struggling to move any air, I feared the worst.

I brought her outdoors onto the front lawn so that the ambulance would see us immediately. I had to move on to rescue breathing because nothing was coming out of her airway. I knew it was mucus, as her mouth was filling with foam and saliva. If I couldn’t get it out, I needed to try to push it past her trachea and into her oesophagus in hopes that she could take in at least one breath.

Two, three, four times I tried to push air into her lungs without any success. Her eyes started to bulge with fear, and her face and body were now very blue. I yelled out to my partner that I needed suction. He ran into the kitchen to get our LifeVac Anti-Choking Device, but I decided we didn’t have the time to wait. I decided to reverse my rescue breaths and try to suck the obstruction out of her mouth and nose.

The universe was kind, and the suction worked. I managed to clear her airway enough for her to breathe, and she began to cry. The sound of her cry was music to my ears as I realized that we had almost lost her. I had to continue to give her back slaps from time to time and held her in a recovery position, clearing her airway every few minutes.

The ambulance finally arrived with a basic tech crew in tow. They didn’t have any paediatric equipment on board or any experience in paediatric or neonatal care. It had taken them 65 minutes to respond to our call. Winter had been blue for 40 full minutes.

We spent a week in the hospital where Winter needed frequent suctioning, struggled to eat, and had to be monitored at all times.

I thank the universe every single day that I am trained as a Critical Care Paramedic, a Resuscitation Practitioner, and a Paediatric Specialist. My partner and I have reflected many times that if it had been a family without such training, Winter wouldn’t be alive today.

It is because of this that I want to empower all families to care for their loved ones. We can only hope that no one ever has to experience the trauma that we have, and if they do, that they may be prepared to help their loved ones.

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