TUTTLE, Okla. (NewsNation Now) – An Oklahoma student and his mom are thanking his teacher for saving him from a lunchtime scare.
“I cannot re-create the feeling of that or even think of it because it was too startling and too much adrenaline was pumping,” said Kaleb Schmidt.
Eight-year-old Kaleb Schmidt is recalling the moment a water bottle cap got stuck in his throat at lunchtime at Tuttle Elementary.
“So I was opening the water bottle with my mouth because my hands were kind of wet because we were having apples and those things can get very slippery,” he said.
Kaleb says the cap quickly shot down his throat, but he kept calm and found a teacher.
Seeing what just happened, teacher Natalie Johnson rushed to Kaleb’s side and quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver.
“Never have I been in a situation where I needed to act so quick about something,” Johnson said.
Her swift life-saving actions got the cap out of his throat.
“And I fell to the ground because I was too startled and too much adrenaline was pumping,” Kaleb said.
He eventually settled down.
“I was fine,” Kaleb said. “Mom was called. She didn’t sue the place.”
In fact, she’s very grateful.
“He’s my hero and now you’re my hero, so thank you so much,” said his mother, Camille Schmidt.
“Thank you and I just wouldn’t be here without you,” Kaleb said to his teacher.
Mrs. Johnson hopes this will serve as a cautionary tale.
“Just always be aware because if we weren’t aware, we wouldn’t have known what was happening at that point,” she said.
The second-grader and self-described YouTuber has one lesson as well.
“And then you just start doing what they can until they faint or you get it out,” said Kaleb. “It’s just the circle of life.”