JOPLIN, Mo. —
Following a recent scare involving her young son, Jacque Ledford is committed to learning the Heimlich maneuver, CPR and other lifesaving techniques.
“In that moment that it’s happening ... I just did what I could, and I didn’t know the right stuff,” she said.
Late last month, when her youngest child, 16-month-old Briar, started fighting with another child over some Goldfish crackers, Ledford took them away. But then she realized that he had a mouthful of the crackers, which by that point had turned to mush and lodged in his throat.
“He started to turn blue and purple,” she said. “Literally, he wasn’t breathing.”
As her husband, Lance, started working on Briar and her sister-in-law called 911, Ledford did the one thing that came to her mind: She ran next door to Tracey Welch’s home. Welch, an elementary school principal in the East Newton School District, happened to be home on spring break.
“It was just heaven-sent,” Ledford said.
According to Ledford, Welch came over to Briar and picked him up off the floor, pressing on his chest as she checked for signs of breathing. By the third time she laid the boy down and listened for a breath, she heard it, Ledford said.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Sunday’s Joplin Globe or register for our E-Edition here at joplinglobe.com.
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Related Photos
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Tracey Welch (left), seated next to her daughter, Bailey, shares a laugh with Jacque Ledford (right), holding her 16-month-old son, Briar. Jacque credits Welch with recently saving her son’s life. Globe/T. Rob Brown
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