'Mikey Saved Him:' Tinley Park Teen's Quick Thinking Saves Boy From Choking

TINLEY PARK, IL — A Tinley Park teen's quick thinking saved a younger child from choking—a heroic moment in which his training from a high school PE class just "clicked."

Mikey Gingras, 15, walked into his family's kitchen and spotted his younger brother's friend in trouble, and Gingras' mom trying to help.

Home on the first day of winter break, Christian Gingras, 11, and a classmate were eating lunch—chicken nuggets Gingras' mother Ashleigh McKeigue had made. McKeigue noticed her son's friend was in distress. At first, she didn't realize the severity of the moment, but it quickly became urgent.

"His face started looking like he was panicked," McKeigue said. "He couldn't speak or even breathe! It was very scary!"

She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver, but in fear of hurting him, realized she might not have done it hard enough. The food was still lodged, with only saliva and mucus surfacing. Then Mikey walked in.

"'Mom, get out of the way! I know what to do!'" McKeigue remembers him saying. "I told him that’s the one time he’s allowed to be bossy with me."

The teen had received training on the life-saving maneuver a year prior, as a freshman at Andrew High School.

"I saw my mom doing it and not getting an effective result," Mikey said. "His face looked like it was turning purple to me. ... I don’t really know what was going through my mind, just that my mom was not doing it correctly."

The teen had never performed the maneuver before, but his instinct and training kicked in. He and classmates had watched videos on the maneuver during PE class.

"The mechanics of it clicked in my head," he said, "it came really easy."

With one strong thrust, a full chicken nugget was dislodged, McKeigue said. She thinks the child had popped the piping hot nugget into his mouth, then tried to let it cool on his tongue before chewing. At some point, he swallowed it whole.

McKeigue said she is so grateful her son had been trained, and knew what to do.

"This incident truly could have been tragic, but thanks to whoever taught this last year, it was not," she wrote in an email to Andrew High School Principal Dr. Abir Othman. "... Moments like this remind us why teaching life-saving skills matters so much."

Othman said he was proud of the teen—who asserted to Patch that he prefers to go by "Mikey"—for stepping up in such a crucial moment.

"I am so grateful that everyone is okay, and I’m truly proud of Mikey for stepping in so calmly and confidently during such a frightening situation," Othman said in an email to McKeigue.

"Please know how meaningful it is to hear that the training Mikey received in his PE class at VJA directly helped save a life."

The teen stayed collected and calm in crisis, McKeigue said.

"Everybody stayed so calm," she remarked. She realized that as an adult, though she knew the procedure, her fear of injuring the child prevented her from performing it effectively.

“'What if he was never taught this?'" McKeigue said she wondered. "I would like to think that I would use enough force, but the reality is, that Mikey saved him."

The child's mother thanked Mikey with a handmade scarf and a card with a poignant note.

"I almost cried reading the card," McKeigue said. "I couldn’t imagine if it was my kid."

Both boys' actions on Dec. 19 made their mother proud.

"I’m very proud of both boys! Mikey showed such a calm, sure/confident way of addressing a very scary situation, and Christian showed so much empathy for his friend," she said. "He kept asking me to check on him to see if he needed anything and how he was feeling."

Mikey and Christian Gingras are known locally for their curbside café—an annual effort by the brothers and their friends to raise funds for local charities through sales of coffee, lattes and other drinks made on-site by the young entrepreneurs.

Their efforts have raised thousands for local families and organizations over three years, including a teacher battling melanoma, the family of a beloved youth sports coach who died suddenly, and the family of a Tinley teen fatally struck by a car while riding his bicycle.

"I love that the boys are learning so much," McKeigue said, of the café. "One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the community and charities, but they end up learning about business, working together and partnership/teamwork—and they also get recognition that makes them feel good about themselves. Of course, this is not why we do it, but it’s just a beautiful thing that they receive such great lessons in return for their kindness and hard work. The community is always very supportive of them in return."