LUMBERTON, Texas — A Southeast Texas mother is on a mission to inform parents about an anti-choking device that saved her son's life after he started choking at the family's home.
Ashley Case was home alone with her 4-year-old son when he began to choke. She attempted the Heimlich maneuver before remembering to grab the "LifeVac" device that her father gave as a gift to the family years ago.
The mother of three says she picked up pasta and meatballs to-go before returning home to feed her son.
She sat her son down at the kitchen counter before going outside to get arts and craft items to prepare for homecoming.
"It's so easy, as a parent, to be distracted by all the other things we're responsible for," she said.
Case says she got distracted when she stepped away for only three minutes before returning.
"I thought I would multitask," she said.
When she returned, she saw a terrifying sight that a parent would never want to see.
"He was bent over the table where he was eating, and there was just saliva like dripping out of his mouth into his plate," said Case.
Calvin was choking, lifeless and could not respond.
"I squeezed him hard, and I was almost scared I was gonna [going to] do it too hard," said Case.
Case attempted the Heimlich maneuver, but it did not work in the moment.
"At this point when I rolled him over, his mouth was blue around the edges," she said.
After trying the Heimlich maneuver, Case used "LifeVac" anti-choking device to suction the food out. The meatball that he was choking on popped out.
The inventor and CEO of LifeVac, Arthur Lih, says simplicity is crucial when a person is in "panic mode." The user of the LifeVac should place, push and pull, according to Lih.
"I knew if my daughter's life was on the line, I would be very panicked," said Lih.
He says that anyone can accidentally choke.
"It's the fourth leading cause of accidental death under car accidents, slips and falls and poisonings," he said.
Lih is committed to making LifeVac accessible so that people will be able to use it during an emergency.
"We give one free to every school in America," he said.
School administrators can make a request for the device on LifeVac's site.
Case says there should be several LifeVac devices on school campuses.
"I think we need multiple," said Case. "You need one in the cafeteria, you need them on the busses, you need them at the nurses station."
Case says she plans on advocating for LifeVac to be placed in Beaumont ambulances and Southeast Texas schools.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.