October 2025 Put simply, to make a long story short, my son is now careering down the hallway, laughing joyfully, because of the LifeVac device.
On a regular October afternoon, my child’s centre called to inform me that my then 20-month-old son had choked on a piece of apple. The item had been dislodged and they said I could come and comfort him — he was waiting in the office. I work in a building alongside the day care centre and, honestly, it did not register at that moment how serious the situation had been.
But when I walked through the centre doors “just to check on him,” the reality hit me hard.

Three staff were standing around my son. The air was silent. Their faces were white — and my son’s was a pale grey. He was seated on an educator’s lap, staring blankly, his small body sunken into her. The way his big little eyes looked up at me, the way he summoned what little energy he had left to meekly reach for me — it is burned into my heart.

The next few minutes were a hard slam into reality. My son had choked on a piece of apple and, in a flurried and urgent state, an educator saved his life with the LifeVac device.

No sugar-coating. No exaggeration. No stretching of the truth. The LifeVac saved his life.

From what I understand, staff attempted back blows while holding him across their lap. More blows. More attempts. Then his body went limp. His lips turned blue. The urgency intensified. The centre coordinator used the LifeVac and, on the second attempt, the apple was dislodged. My son started breathing again.
Every staff member that day was impacted — the screams, the calls for help, the sudden silence, the hurried movement. It was written across their faces as I moved through the centre, my son clinging tightly to me, collecting his belongings before we rushed to Emergency for a check-up.

That one moment has marked our family forever.
Most importantly, I am immeasurably grateful — to the centre educators, and for the LifeVac — that I still have an energetic, squealing, adventurous, Spiderman-loving two-year-old to cuddle each day.

I shared our story with my mothers’ group, and together we purchased ten LifeVac devices for our homes.

I hope none of them are ever needed.
But if an emergency arises, I hope more lives are saved.
Some investments will always be worth far more than money.