Colin Bues was honored with an Acts of Courage Award by the American Red Cross earlier this month for performing the Heimlich maneuver on classmate who was choking.
Weston Bauer, 10, said it happened at a birthday party in November. He told newsnet5.com that he was throwing cheese puffs into the air and catching them in his mouth when one got stuck in his throat and he started choking.
“I couldn’t breathe,” Weston said. “I felt really scared, I couldn’t even cough or anything.”
Colin, 9, was the only kid who noticed Weston struggling to breathe.
“So I ran towards him and pushed people out of the way and gave him the Heimlich maneuver,” Colin explained.
No one ever showed Colin how to perform the lifesaving move. He told newnet5.com that he remembered a poster in his cafeteria at school explaining how to do it.
The cheese puff came out and Weston said he was extremely grateful for Colin’s help.
“I know that God was in his heart and that he helped him,” Weston said.
Weston’s mother nominated Colin for an Acts of Courage Award and he was presented with a plaque earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the Red Cross told newsnet5.com that they were very proud of the fourth grader’s quick thinking.
“Clearly, from Colin’s example, knowing how to perform an abdominal thrust can save lives,” spokesperson Mary Williams said.
Williams said that whether you take a formal class or you get a crash course from our RedCross First Aid app, it is important for at least one person in every household to know how to perform First Aid and CPR.
