Family donates hundreds of anti-choking devices after Christmas gift saves man's life

A family in Lowell, Massachusetts, had a close call last Christmas when a family member choking on their dinner was saved by a present sitting under the tree.

Now, they are paying it forward by donating more than 200 LifeVac anti-choking devices to local schools.

"I knew right away when I handed over the anti-choking device on Christmas, I was going to get made fun of, and sure enough, I did," said Maggie O'Rourke, an ICU nurse and the mother of a toddler.

When she gave her parents a LifeVac for Christmas, they teased.

"We're like, 'Oh, Maggie, you're just such a nervous first-time mother,'" said Maggie's mom, Christine Florence.

O'Rourke admits she was thinking about the children spending time with their grandparents.

"I never expected she would have to use it on my dad the very next day," said O'Rourke.

Bill and Christine Florence were eating turkey leftovers on the couch when she looked over and sensed something was wrong.

"I asked him if he was OK, and he couldn't speak. We know that that's the classic sign of someone choking," said Christine Florence.

Bill Florence got up and collapsed on the kitchen floor.

"I could tell he was unconscious and not breathing. His color was not good, and of course, I immediately panicked," said Christine Florence. "I am a nurse practitioner, so I'm trained in CPR, but when it's your own family member, it's a different story."

She tried to do abdominal thrusts, the Heimlich maneuver, but it wasn't working. She called 911, and after a couple of cycles of CPR, she remembered her daughter's gift was sitting under the Christmas tree.

"I tried it once and nothing happened," she said. "Then I tried it a second time and the food actually came up into the device and within seconds — it seemed like forever — he took a breath. And I just couldn't believe it."

Neither could O'Rourke when her brother called her to tell her what happened.

"He kept saying, 'Maggie, Mom used the device you got,' and I was like, 'What are you talking about?'" she said. "When he said the LifeVac I was like 'Oh my god,' I couldn't believe it."

After that scare, the family reached out to LifeVac, and the company agreed to match purchases of the device.

Bill Florence is a semi-retired teacher, and in June, they donated more than 200 devices to Lowell Public Schools and emergency responders.

"I see these kids every day in the cafeteria, eating their lunches, and it's not just the kids, it's also the teachers, the cafeteria workers, it's everybody. If it happened to me, it can happen to anybody," he said. "So when the company offered to donate LifeVacs to Maggie for every order that was placed, we started thinking, 'What can we do?' And the first thing that came to my mind was to get these devices into the schools."

Now every school in Lowell has at least two.

"The reality is if Chrissy didn't go get that device, I would be dead, and there's no question around that," he said. "I'm just happy that we've been able to help out in some way."

Their daughter has become a big advocate for the device, now working with a state representative on a bill that would allow them to be available in schools across the state.

"It's pretty easy to use, it comes with two masks — an adult mask and a pediatric mask — and it works like a plunger, you just pop it right on. You place it, you press, and you pull, and it makes a big suction. It's simple, super simple," said O'Rourke. "It should be used after basic life support, so you should attempt the Heimlich, you should attempt CPR if needed, and then this is like the 'Hail Mary,' use this if all else fails."