9-year-old student saw his friend 'gasping for air' at recess and 'just did my thing' to save his life
A person's ability to stay calm and act swiftly in panicky situations could be a big help for people around them. Such a person might even end up saving someone's life. The same thing happened with a 9-year-old boy who saw his friend choking at school. The boy, Jayceon Branch was with his friend Donye Moore during recess when Moore was eating a granola bar as the duo played basketball. The boy choked on the bar and was gasping for air when Branch saw him, as per WRAL News.
Luckily, Branch had learned the Heimlich Maneuver from YouTube and was able to use it on the 7-year-old. "We were playing basketball and he ate a granola bar and we started playing longer until he started choking. I didn’t know he was actually, actually choking, so I just did my thing, which was a Heimlich," Branch shared. The CCTV footage from Raleigh Oak Charter School showed the boy doing two compressions on the younger boy, after which Moore was able to get the food stuck in his throat out and breathe properly. "I learned it from watching YouTube," Branch revealed. He had seen a teacher help another student who was choking and wanted to learn the technique too, so he could help someone.
"I learned it from watching YouTube because a teacher saw a student choking and the student came to the teacher and started doing this and then the teacher started doing what I did to Donye." Students and teachers who saw the footage of the boy performing the life-saving technique were quite surprised to see him do it without any hesitation. "We teach our kids to take care of each other, so this is really just a prime example of that. Jayceon just jumped into action so quickly. We are really proud of him," Eric Johnson, the executive director of the school expressed. In the footage, one could clearly see that Moore had stopped playing all of a sudden and was struggling to breathe.
Branch's dad, Oluefami Branch, had seen a missed call from the school when the incident took place and was really worried that something had gone wrong, but everything turned out to be good. "I’ve had to be called to the school before for him. I was hoping this time…I was like, oh my gosh, don’t let this be bad. But I got the voicemail and he told me it was all good news," the dad pointed out. The parents of both the boys really appreciated what the older one was able to do for his friend. At the same time, they were also quite shocked by what they saw.
Moore's mom, Aja Moore remarked, "At first, I wasn’t understanding that he had to be given the Heimlich maneuver or anything like that. It was surprising. I’m just thankful his friend was able to demonstrate that on him." The two boys were already really good friends before the incident and now their bond has grown even stronger. Moore was really happy that his friend was there by his side to help him during the incident, as per 11Alive.