‘I wouldn’t be here if she weren’t here:’ Pair reunite after Good Samaritan saves woman choking at Hazel Green supermarket
HAZEL GREEN, Ala. (WHNT) — Susan Wallace says she will never take a breath for granted after nearly choking to death on a roasted chickpea in the parking lot of Foodland on US 231.
She found herself choking in her car after running to the store for a quick re-stock of cleaning supplies.
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“I breathed in and it hit the back of my throat. I thought I was going to cough a couple times and I’ll be fine. We’ve all done that,” she said. “I thought, I can expel the air with my cough, but I’m not getting [any air] back in when I try.”
She rushed back inside the store and tried to get the closest cashier’s attention.
“I just motioned and I tried to say, ‘I can’t breathe,’ I don’t know if it came out where she could understand me, but she could tell I was in trouble and she said, ‘I don’t know the Heimlich,’ and she looked around, and said, ‘do you know the Heimlich?'”
No one around her knew the Heimlich Maneuver.
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“They said they could dial 911, and I remember thinking, ‘my 15-year-old girl, my 13-year-old boy and my husband are going to be planning my funeral because they’re not going to get here in time,” she said.
Susan said God had other plans; an angel in the form of a small blonde woman named Shelia Johnson.
“I was headed out. I was just parking the shopping cart and I heard somebody say, “she’s choking,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she has known how to do the Heimlich for 20 years, after being taught by friends who were first responders. She used it once on herself when she was choking but never on another person in distress.
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“This gorgeous blonde walks up and says this is going to be uncomfortable. she puts her fist in my belly, then I’m off my feet, breathing the most beautiful gift, which is oxygen, into my lungs,” Wallace said.
Shelia said she feared she wouldn’t reach Susan in time. She walks using the help of a cane after losing one of her toes.
“I technically wasn’t supposed to be lifting more than 25 pounds but I asked my creator to give me strength,” Johnson said.
Wallace said she was so confused after the ordeal ended, she didn’t realize Shelia’s condition until much later.
“I hugged her, I said, ‘thank you, Lord, thank you Shelia,’ after I learned her name. She handed me a bottle of water and then she disappeared.”
Wallace said when she got home, she explained what happened to her husband and children. Her husband, James, then went to Facebook in hopes of finding his wife’s guardian angel.
Susan said after his initial post, dozens of commenters wanted to know the full story, so she told them.
“A mutual friend, who is fabulous, said, that’s my friend! And tagged her!” Wallace said.
From there, the pair reconnected online first, then, reunited in front of News 19 at the Foodland parking lot. Johnson met James and Wallace gave her new friend a gift.
“What do you get someone who saved your life? It’s not much but it is from my heart.”
Wallace gave Johnson a necklace with a small infinity sign.
“To hug someone, who, I wouldn’t be here if she weren’t here that day, it’s just surreal,” Wallace said. “I got her a necklace with an infinity sign because I am forever grateful,” Wallace said.
The bigger message, both woman say, is for anyone who is able, to learn the Heimlich Maneuver.
“If someone offers you the opportunity to teach you something helpful, even if you never use it, that’s okay too, but it’s better to have that knowledge,” Johnson said.
Mayo Clinic describes administering the Heimlich Maneuver in the following steps:
-Stand behind the person, or for a child, kneel down. Then wrap your arms around their waist and tip the person forward slightly.
-Make a fist with one hand and grab the fist with your other hand, then press into the stomach, above the belly button but below the ribcage.
-Administer quick, upward thrusts as if trying to lift the person up. For a child, be more gentle to avoid damaging internal organs
-Give five abdominal thrusts and check to see if the blockage has been removed
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