“She’s always been an exceptional kid,” says proud mom Heather James.
Leah James, a 10-year-old girl from Texas, quickly sprang into action when she saw her 7-year-old brother, Logan, choking beside her.
After performing the Heimlich maneuver and dislodging a piece of candy from her brother’s throat, Leah, whom her mom calls an “exceptional kid,” is being celebrated by her community, her local police department and the internet.
The moment was captured on camera. The siblings were partaking in the viral Warhead Challenge, which involves tasting the sour candy to see who flinches first at the extreme taste.
Though people would normally film themselves doing the challenge sitting down, Leah and her brother decided to try it while bouncing up and down on a trampoline.
In the video, Leah counts down before she and Logan put the sour candy in their mouths. After a couple of jumps on the trampoline, Logan then sits up, puts his hands near his neck and seemingly struggles to breathe.
“I fell back. It went down my throat. It went in like the middle of my throat,” he later told “Inside Edition” about the scary moment.
In the video, Leah can be heard asking her brother if he’s OK. She hits his back a couple of times hoping that’ll work, but after he still appears to be in distress, she moves on to a skill she learned from her mom — the Heimlich maneuver.
Leah then performs several abdominal thrusts, leading Logan to cough up the candy and restore his breathing.
Here video; https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2551746555207500
“(I) tried to help him,” she told Inside Edition.
The phenomenal video was shared on the official Facebook page of the Lavon Police Department, where the children’s mother, Heather James, works as a special programs administrator.
Lavon’s Chief of Police Michael Jones praised Leah’s lifesaving skills. The 10-year-old demonstrated the importance of not hesitating in an emergency situation.
