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A 12-year-old girl has been praised for her quick thinking after she calmly performed the Heimlich maneuver on her choking twin brother in the school cafeteria, potentially saving his life.
Charlie Loverme, 12, was eating a piece of mozzarella inside Leicester Middle School in Massachusetts on Friday when the cheese got stuck.
He can be seen staggering around the cafeteria, as the other children look on in shock and horror.
The boy told CBS News he thought: ‘I’m going to die.’
Charlie added: ‘It’s just scary and you just don’t know what’s going to happen next and it’s just really scary.’
Amelia Loverme is pictured with her twin brother Charlie. The 12-year-old saved her twin brother when he was choking on Friday
Some of their classmates ran and hid, unsure what to do, but his sister Amelia saw what was happening, and got up to help.
‘They were all pretty scared and they didn’t know what to do,’ she said.
She can be seen standing behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest, and helping to dislodge the trapped food.
Amelia said she hadn’t been formally trained, but guessed what to do.
‘It was just instinct,’ she said.
‘I didn’t really know what to do, I just feel like I had to help him.’
Charlie can be seen standing, grabbing at his mouth as he begins to choke
He staggers across the room, thrashing his legs, and his sister Amelia leaps up to help
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Amelia can be seen wrapping her arms around his waist and performing the Heimlich maneuver
Amelia helps Charlie, who said he thought he was going to die
Jason Loverme, father of Amelia and Charlie, said he was proud that she remembered what to do to help him
Amelia (right) said it was ‘instinct’ that kicked in to show her how to save Charlie (left)
Their father, Jason Loverme, said he was incredibly proud of how Amelia reacted.
He said they were sharing the story to encourage others to learn the maneuver.
‘I would say: talk to the kids about life-saving stuff like this,’ he said.
‘Whether you think it registers or not, they may tune it out but clearly something registered and she recalled it when she needed it.’
He said you never know when you might need to step in.
‘If you can help somebody and you can react, regardless of if you’re nervous or not, you should,’ he said.
Amelia got recognition from the school committee this week and the police chief will be working with the District Attorney to get Amelia an award too.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
