ROCKY POINT, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — A Long Island freshman on Monday publicly thanked the custodian at her high school for saving her life.
Rocky Point High School cheerleader Avery Ward, 15, says the school day was just like any other, until she was eating at lunch and found herself struggling to breathe.
"I was eating fries and I took a bite of one and then I started to laugh. I started choking," the teenager said. "Honestly, the last thing I remember was another teacher came running over to ask if I was okay and then I passed out."
The 15-year-old says she started to turn purple as custodian Dave Cook ran across the cafeteria to save her.
He said the situation was scary and kept picturing his own daughter in danger when trying to save Ward.
"I was thinking about my daughter, Lily, and, 'This is somebody's daughter,' and I had to do what I had to do," Cook said.
He quickly picked the 15-year-old freshman up and began performing the Heimlich maneuver, and says after about five compressions, Ward was able to breathe again.
"Afterwards, I started shaking because of the adrenaline," Cook told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall.
Ward says she is thankful that Cook was around when she needed help.
"Thank god Mr. Cook was there," the 15-year-old said. "If he wasn't there, I don't know what would've happened."
Cook tells WCBS 880 this is not the first time he has saved somebody who was choking. He notes that many years ago, he used the Heimlich maneuver on his 7-year-old son.
The custodian says he learned the life-saving maneuver from a poster at the school when he started 20 years ago.
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