Girl saves choking grandma
ELEESHA SILVA will keep a close eye on her grandmother during Christmas dinner tomorrow – just in case she has to save her life again.
The story of how the 11-year-old saved grandmother Erica Samarawira from choking on her food, just weeks after completing a first aid course at school, is quickly becoming family legend.
Eleesha, a pupil at Redwood School in Tawa, was in her room when she heard something happening, and went downstairs to find her grandmother choking on rice, and her mother picking up the phone to call the ambulance.
Seeing what was happening, she told mum Gayani Silva that she could help – her mum said no, but Eleesha insisted.
‘‘She didn’t want to take the chance, but I looked at her and said, ‘I can do it, I know what to do.’ So she let me.’’
I can do it, I know what to do. Eleesha Silva to her mother Gayani as her grandmother was choking on her food
Eleesha had completed a Red Cross first aid course at school and knew she needed to get her grandmother to bend at the waist, hammer her between her shoulder blades and then give her chest thrusts, repeating the process until the food was dislodged.
Although she felt a moment of selfdoubt, she just did her best and it worked. ‘‘I felt relieved, it kind of felt like I wasn’t breathing the whole time because I was so focused.’’
Once her grandmother had recovered, she hugged Eleesha so tightly it ‘‘squeezed the air’’ out of her, Eleesha said.
Samarawira said she was prone to choking, and in a different mishap ended up being taken to hospital by ambulance.
‘‘I can’t breathe and I can’t talk . . . all the time when this happens I think I will die.’’
The 65-year-old said she was proud of Eleesha and did not feel scared about choking again, as long as Eleesha was by her side.
Eleesha’s dad, Pradeep Silva, said his mother-in-law told the story to everyone who came to their home, and he was pretty proud of his daughter too.
‘‘She’s not an extrovert by any stretch, so for her to think on her feet and get into it showed a lot of confidence.
‘‘It showed us something we didn’t know and that, when the time comes, she’s prepared to get on and get it done.’’