Last night, I stopped into our local Otaez for a quick meal after an amazing Back-to-School event at the K-5 Village of Nea Community Learning Center. My youngest son and I decided to share a rib-eye steak and some fries as a rare treat.
The restaurant was low key on the Webster Street side, and I exchanged pleasant conversation with a family and their 9-year-old while we waited for our meal. I did notice a handsome young man and his dinner guest at a nearby table. We all acknowledged each other with nods and went on to continue our personal conversations.
Our meal arrived, and my son and I wasted no time digging in to the freshly grilled steak. Three bites in, I realized that the piece of meat that I had just swallowed wouldn't quite move down my throat. I tried to cough it up, but it would not budge that way either. I began to get a sense that it was not moving at all, so I thought to try to drink a bit of water. It exploded back out of my mouth as if it hit an impenetrable wall! That was it... I was choking!
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I jumped up out of my chair waving my arms. The young man immediately asked, "Are you ok?" I shook my head no, pointed to my throat, and then signaled that I needed a diaphragmatic thrust by clasping my hands together and pushing on my own ribs. I did all of this while moving toward him, but he was already out of his seat.
Almost like a dance we met in not more than three steps, I turned my back toward him as he grabbed me just below my ribs and he gave me two strong Heimlich thrusts. Then I heard the most magical question. "Is that enough, Mama Maafi?" I shook my head no again and pushed his clasped hands down about three inches while I thought, "He knows me!?"
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He gave me one more strong thrust that did the trick... out flew the meat in a fashion that I have only seen enacted in movies. My son was shaking, the restaurant was frozen in time, and with a little cough I was able to let everyone know that I was OK.
The next words I uttered were thank you as I asked him his name. He reminded me that he was Corey Dunlap, my former student at Encinal High School, friend of my oldest son, baseball phenom, Alameda native, all around good guy, and now the young man who saved my life.
He went on to tell me that he had just completed CPR training the previous day. Lucky for me his life-saving skills were primed and at the ready. Corey is coaching football and soon baseball at Encinal. I'll be going back to my old stomping grounds to cheer the Jets and my personal angel, Corey Dunlap.
