Stevan Dohanos teacher saves student from choking (VIDEO)

LORAIN — Yachelis Rodriguez got a call no parent wants to receive from the nurse at Stevan Dohanos Elementary. Her son, Ricardo Reyes, 11, had swallowed a piece of candy and it got stuck in his throat. "He almost lost his life," Rodriguez said. On April 19, Aftan Cunningham's fifth grade class was getting ready to head to lunch when Ricardo's friend, Alex Morales, came running over to her, telling her Ricardo was choking. "I was kind of looking back and forth between the two of them and saying 'Are you sure, is he really choking?'" she said. Then she saw Ricardo put his hands on his chest, and his chest wasn't moving. Alex had already tried to dislodge the mint stuck in his friend's throat, but the boy wasn't strong enough. After a quick call to the building's office alerting them to the situation, Cunningham grabbed Ricardo and began the Heimlich maneuver. Six thrusts later, the candy came out, and the boy could finally speak. "My face was hitting red and I kept hitting myself in the chest," Ricardo said. "I was scared … I couldn't even cry because it didn't let me cry. I wasn't even thinking." Cunningham said Ricardo was fine afterward, but the event was terrifying. "My adrenaline just kicked in and it just took over and I was able to take care of it," she said. "I've never had to do it in real life before, I was CPR-trained by the district, they offered a more affordable CPR training this year, and I wasn't sure, so I kind of started easily and after a few tries I started to get a little harder and harder and eventually it came out." Rodriguez and her wife, Zuleika Mercado, are eternally grateful to Cunningham and Ricardo's friend Alex. "When I see that little boy, I'm hugging him — if (Alex) hadn't seen (what was happening) no one would've realized," Mercado said. Rodriguez agreed. "(Cunningham's) a hero for me right now … We need more teachers like her," she said. Contact Bruce Bishop at bbishop@chroniclet.com. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.