ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – An Atlantic Beach family avoided tragedy when one of their children remembered something he saw and heard as a 5-year-old, and it saved his sister’s life.
Lucca Martinez, now 7, and his parents, are so grateful he paid attention when they trained their nanny how to deliver the Heimlich maneuver if someone chokes.
Lucca realized he needed to do it for his 4-year-old sister and that he couldn’t wait for his parents, even though both of them are doctors.
The second-grader said he knew last Sunday morning he needed to leap into action for his sister.
He and his sister Elena were playing in a closet when her creativity nearly led to calamity.
"She pretended two marbles were two marshmallows, so she put them in her mouth. Then she was laughing, and then suddenly she went like this," Lucca said as he grabbed his throat.
"I knew she was choking, so I got behind her and and then I pulled. The first time I pulled it didn't work. In the second time, both of the marbles came out."
As soon as the marbles were out, they ran upstairs to wake up their mom and dad.
Mary Ellen Wechter and Juan-Carlos Martinez said they were both shaken, stunned and thankful.
"(At) the same time, we were overjoyed and so proud of him that he'd done it," Martinez said. "Mary and I looked at each other and almost broke down. Just the thought of that happening and how easily it could have been so terrible."
"I would have come downstairs and had my blue child, you know – I kind of can't even think about that," Mary Ellen Wechter said. "It's that part (that's) not really real. But the fact that he knew what to do, it's still kind of a miracle to me,
kind of amazing."
Martinez and Wechter both said they don't remember instructing the kids to do the Heimlich, but the kids were present when the parents made sure their nanny knew what to do.
They said they hope their story inspires others to make sure their children are ready if they ever need to save one of their siblings.