A QUICK-thinking nurse prevented a birthday choking tragedy and saved her mother’s life.
Debbie Twigdon-Williams and her family visited Table Table in Rhuddlan to celebrate Christina Weedman’s 73rd birthday, but had to put her basic training to the test when a mouthful of food blocked her mother’s throat.
Mrs Weedman, who ordered a prawn cocktail, began coughing but made no sound, and it soon became clear she was struggling.
Debbie said: “There was just silence and a look of terror in her eyes. Her lips started to turn blue and in sheer panic I jumped out of my chair and started to slap her back.
“Nothing moved and she was becoming more blue by the second. I tried to pull on all my memories of my basic life support training and think what to do next.”
Debbie, an Occupational Health nurse at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, said she was on “auto pilot” as she clasped her mother below the ribs to begin abdominal thrusts, but the chair back blocked her attempts.
With the help of daughter Charlotte, 17, she manoeuvre Christine clear and repeated the Heimlich procedure.
She said: “Another guest in the restaurant came over to help and also tried to dislodge the blockage but nothing was working. Mum was like a rag doll in my arms.
“I could actually feel the life draining out of her. My daughter tells me I was shouting at her ‘I’m not giving up on you now!’ although I don’t remember saying that. I knew that time and my mother’s life was slipping away. It had been about two minutes since she stopped breathing.”
Debbie said it took 12 attempts to dislodge the prawn blocking the airway, but Mrs Weedman began breathing.
She has since been given a clean bill of health, and paramedics said the swift actions of her daughter saved her life.
Debbie said: “I spent Christmas with my mother - but it could have been a very different day.”
To find out more about the proceedure, visit: www.redcross.org.uk/Choking.