Suburban Heroine Saves Three Lives Using Heimlich Maneuver, Latest at Schaumburg High School

A woman from the suburbs of Schaumburg, Illinois, has successfully employed a lifesaving technique not once or twice, but three times.

Her first heroic act took place over three decades ago when she saved her infant daughter.

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Her most recent lifesaving effort occurred at Schaumburg High School, where she is employed.

Becky McNamee admits she can’t recall when or where she learned the technique for aiding a choking person, yet it has certainly proven invaluable. The maneuver, popularly known as the Heimlich maneuver, has allowed her to save three individuals.

The scene was bustling with activity.

It was lunch time at Schaumburg High School, and McNamee was about to leave on a break, but she stayed around for a few minutes, just long enough for one of her students to get her attention to show he was choking.

“I immediately turned him around and started doing chest thrusts. I’m 5-feet tall, and he was much taller than me,” McNamee said

She says she immediately acted on instinct.

More than 5,000 people a year die from choking.

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It took what seemed like several exhausting minutes, but she finally managed to dislodge the food stuck in his throat.

She says it was an incredibly emotional moment afterward when they both realized what could have happened if she failed.

School District 211 honored McNamee with a life safety award.

“We’re really grateful she had these skills in the moment to respond because there was so little time to respond,” Principal Tom Mocon.

McNamee says she first performed the procedure more than 30 years ago on her infant daughter who was choking.

Then, she did it again on another Schaumburg student who was choking in the lunchroom about 15 years ago.

Each time she says it was incredibly emotional and frightening.

But she says she believes most everyone would have responded the same way in an emergency.

“You do nothing, and you could lose somebody. You have to do something with any lifesaving situation,” McNamee said.

McNamee says while she’s uncomfortable with all the attention, the most important thing that can come out of this is more people learn what to do when someone is choking.