The Third Piece of Grilled Cheese

It was a Thursday evening like any other.

Jaxson, 7 months old, was in his highchair learning to eat. He'd taken two pieces of grilled cheese without a problem. His mum gave him two more.

The third piece is when everything changed.

At first it looked like gagging. Normal. Nothing to worry about. But then she saw it — a look in his eye that shifted. His cry became muffled. She pulled him from the highchair and started back blows. Once. Twice. Nothing came up.

She flipped him over and tried again.

That's when he started wheezing.

"I was home alone with both boys."

No second pair of hands. No time to wait for an ambulance. Just a mother, her baby, and a device she'd bought hoping she'd never need it.

She grabbed the LifeVac from the pantry, sat Jaxson on the couch, and on the very first application — the obstruction was gone.

"Instant relief overwhelmed me."

He cried for about 30 seconds. Then he was ready to eat again.

"I want to say how thankful I am for LifeVac. It's one of those things you buy, hoping and thinking you will probably never use it. But truthfully couldn't be more relieved and humbled to have it save Jaxson. It's an overwhelming wave of emotions going through something like this, but I am forever indebted to your company."

— Jaxson's mum

Choking can happen in seconds. Back blows don't always work. The average NHS response time to a choking call is longer than the window you have.

LifeVac is designed for exactly this moment — when everything else has failed and you are out of time.

Jaxson is fine. He's eating well and in good spirits.

Not every story ends this way.