What a hero.
Eight-year-old Billy White used his first-aid training to quickly and decisively save his grandmother from choking on a piece of cake.
Granny Diane had lodged a piece of scone in her throat and her daughter Kate had cried for her son’s assistance in desperation.
It’s fair to say that most kids under the age of 12 these days are practically glued to Minecraft, but Billy promptly paused his game and ran out to help.
Straight away he called upon the knowledge he’d acquired from an after school club run by St John’s Ambulance, leaning his granny forward and “thumping” her on the back with the heel of his hand.
It worked, and the piece of cake flew out of her mouth. The Mirror report that Diane was shaken but thankfully unscathed by the scary incident. As for Billy, well he returned to Minecraft. After all, those blocky cities aren’t going to build themselves.
Diane was quick to praise her grandson’s quick-thinking bravery, telling The Mirror that he likely saved her life.
“I honestly think that if Billy hadn’t come in when he did and known exactly what to do, I would have died there and then. I am so grateful to him,” she said.
“The whole of my body started to shake and Kate said ‘I’m going to ring an ambulance’ and I thought, I’m not going to make it.
“Then Bill came on the scene and wam, wam, wam, wam – I coughed and dislodged whatever it was.
“I shook for ages though, it was very frightening but he’s a good lad and I’m glad I have him.
“I’m very proud of him, we’re both very proud.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6728SbaW9Q
Billy had been taught how to stop someone from choking just three weeks previous to the incident at his ‘Badgers’ after school club. He explained that he just knew what to do as soon as he his mum called him in.
He said: “Well I hit her five times on the back. I leant her forward and I didn’t have to tell her to cough because she was already coughing.
“I hit her in the shoulder blades but in the middle, I could tell just where to hit, I just knew for some reason and I thumped.”
Sue Killen, CEO, St John Ambulance said that her organisation were “really proud” of Billy’s actions, and that what happened with Diane just emphasised how important it is that children are given basic first-aid training.
Bravo Billy.
