Leah Porritt, mother of two including a 3-year-old daughter, shared a story that could have ended very badly.
Behavioral specialist in special education in Baltimore, Leah is a young mother who wanted to come back to an event in her life in order to encourage parents to learn first aid gestures. In October 2017, as the mum had drained the tub and was dressing her second child in the bedroom, she could hear her daughter singing and cleaning her bath toys when suddenly Maddie fell silent. “I didn’t hear her anymore, and when I called out her name, she didn’t answer”, remembers the mother of the family.
She rushes into the bathroom and discovers Maddie, then 3 years old, in the bathtub. Her lips are white, her fingers and toes are blue, and she’s struggling to breathe.. “I lifted her up and patted her back, but nothing happened.”, says Leah Poritt. She then had the reflex to run with her daughter in her arms to the house of her neighbour, whom she knew was experienced in first aid and first aid care.
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A toy stuck in your throat
“My neighbor must have heard me scream because when I arrived, she had already opened the door”, resumes the mother. “She then grabbed my daughter who still had blue feet and kicked her hard on the back. A toy then flew out of her mouth, I’ve never been so relieved in my life.” After the heroic gesture of the neighbor, the paramedics arrived and took care of the little girl.
The mother says:That night, I hardly slept and I swore to myself to learn first aid gestures so as not to find myself useless in this kind of frightening situation..” The next morning, she signed up for the first first aid course she could find. Through her story, the young mother hopes to educate other parents so they never have to go through what she went through with her 3-year-old daughter. “Children can choke on food while you sit next to them at the table. Every parent should know how to save them”, she concludes.