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Submitted by Lisa Bielmeier
Public Relations Specialist
Orleans/Niagara BOCES
Dan O’Grady, a junior in Jeff Brown’s computer technology program at the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center, and welding student Aiden Hewitt, also a junior at the center, were having lunch together at Niagara Falls High School when Hewitt started choking on some food.
“We were sitting at a table with our friends just laughing and he was making a strange noise, and I realized something was very wrong,” O’Grady said. “My instincts just took over, and I ran behind him in the chair and reached down and started doing the Heimlich maneuver. I was pushing hard on his stomach, and I just remember thinking, ‘I hope I am doing this right.’ ”
O’Grady had never been trained on how to do the first aid method, but had seen it performed on television.
“I just went on instinct,” he said. “Everything seemed to go in slow motion. A lunch attendant ran over because they thought we were fighting. I was trying to explain what was going on. I was so relieved when Aiden started breathing again. They took him over to the nurse’s office. I was shaking so hard afterwards. I think I was in shock.”
Hewitt was also dazed by the incident and very thankful that O’Grady sprang into action right away.
“We have been friends for a couple of years, and we were just hanging out; and next thing I felt something lodged in my throat,” he said. “Dan just jumped up from the table and ran to me. I was really scared and just so grateful that he helped me. It was very scary.”
Brown said he is very proud of O’Grady: “He is just a great kid and a great student, and we are very impressed with his quick response to save his friend.”
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