CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C — When it comes to a moment of panic, seconds could determine the outcome.
What You Need To know
Bunker Hill High School junior Ian Smith began choking on his sandwich during lunch in March
His longtime friend, Alan Morales, had attended a medical career camp last summer where he learned the Heimlich maneuver
Morales jumped up and saved his friend with the skills he learned
On March 8, Bunker Hill High School juniors Alan Morales and Ian Smith came face-to-face with a life-threatening situation.
"All my life I have put barbecue chips in my sandwiches," Smith said.
But during lunch, some of Smith's sandwich got stuck in his throat. He says he took a drink of his Gatorade, but it made the situation worse because the food would not budge from his airway.
Smith says he grabbed his throat and couldn't breathe.
He looked around at his friends sitting at the lunch table, panicking.
Morales, who he has known since they were kids, asked if he was choking.
"And he grabbed his throat and shook his head yes, and I just jumped up, and I was in fight or flight mode, ran up to him and did the Heimlich and then hit him really hard in the back, and I was shaking after, I just wanted him to be OK," Morales said.
The previous summer Morales had attended a medical career camp. It is funded through Wake Forest School of Medicine.
"They taught us the Heimlich (maneuver). They showed us CPR. We even went to a funeral home. It was cool," Morales said.
He says he never imagined he would apply the new skills so quickly by saving his friend's life.
“It was really nice to know that something the kid had done over the summer through career and technical education he remembered, and he applied it, and he applied it very quickly," said teacher Brittany Moose who was there the day of the incident and who is part of career and technical education at Bunker Hill High School.
"I am so glad Alan was there, it could have been a lot worse," Smith said.