Timothy Prater had seen the YouTube videos. He remembered seeing a poster, too. So when this 9-year-old’s cousin started stomping his feet and holding his throat, Timothy knew just what to do.
He leaped into action, dropped to his knees and put his cousin, Connor, in the Heimlich maneuver. A few moments later, a Lifesaver flew out of Connor’s throat.
Prather, 9, had saved a life.
The two were visiting a rodeo in McNairy County, Tennessee, when the cousin began choking. “He was just crying and stomping his feet and holding his throat,” Prather told CNN affiliate WREG. “Our mam-maw had him upside down and our pap-paw was patting his back, that’s how I knew something was wrong.”
Timothy remembered watching YouTube videos about the Heimlich maneuver, and remembered a poster hanging in Ramer Elementary School’s cafeteria illustrating the steps to save someone from choking.
“I just feel happy that he’s alive,” Prather told WREG.
“We never know when they’re watching, what they’re picking up on,” kindergarten teacher Brandi Wardlow told WREG. “To think this little poster here saved his cousin’s life, it’s amazing.”
The posters, she said, were older than Prather himself. She hung them on the walls 14 years ago.
When news broke of the lad’s heroics, he was the talk of the school.
The teacher hopes Prather’s story will inspire her students to pay attention to what the poster says, and remember that someday they can save a life, too.
