MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. — When 9-year-old Timothy Prather noticed his little cousin Conner choking on a Lifesavers candy recently, he jumped into action and became a life saver himself.
The pair were attending a rodeo with Timothy’s grandparents when Conner started choking.
“He was just crying and stomping his feet and holding his throat,” Timothy said. “Our mam-maw had him upside down and our pap-paw was patting his back, that’s how I knew something was wrong.”
Prather performed a procedure he remembered thanks to a poster hanging in his school cafeteria.
Recalling what he’s seen on the poster at school and some YouTube videos he’d watched, Timothy dropped to his knees at started the Heimlich maneuver.
“I took him, and I started pushing his stomach, like this,” Timothy said.
After a few moments, the candy was dislodged from Conner’s throat.
News of Timothy’s heroics were the talk of Ramer Elementary School, where kindergarten teacher Brandi Wardlow put the poster up in the lunchroom and every classroom 14 years ago.
Her hope was that students would pay attention — and maybe someday, save a life.
“We never know when they’re watching, what they’re picking up on,” Wardlow said. “To think this little poster here saved his cousin’s life, it’s amazing.”