Plymouth Boy Choking On Food Saved By Off-Duty Firefighters
PLYMOUTH (CBS) - A Plymouth mother is crediting three off-duty firefighters with saving her youngest son, Dylan, while he was choking on food at a restaurant.
Amanda Gillespie says she and her family were inside Plane Jane's Place at Plymouth Municipal Airport on Wednesday morning when the incident occurred.
Dylan had taken a bite of a muffin, sneezed, and then inhaled a small piece of food.
"I could see him starting to struggle," she said.
She and her two other sons began to panic and started scrambling to help him.
"I'm over there smacking his back, trying whatever I can," she said.
A few tables down, only one other group was sitting down for a meal at the time. And the men, who identified themselves as off-duty firefighters, were the perfect group for the situation.
All three men - Firefighters Matt DeMaio, Bill Barrett and Scott Flora - work for the Plymouth Fire Department.
"They literally just jumped and took him from me and went into action," Amanda Gillespie said.
Moments later, the firefighters managed to dislodge whatever Dylan was choking on.
For this panicked mother, the sound of him crying had never been so comforting.
"He's just a baby. He's just a love. He's hugging me. I can't imagine what could have happened, you know," she said.
Gillespie said the firefighters, who declined to be interviewed for this story, saved her son's life.
"Those guys were just so amazing, and I really wanted them to get the praise they deserve, that all first responders deserve," she said.