We’ve all done it at the grocery store. Snacked on something we didn’t yet pay for. However, snack time, unfortunately, turned deadly for a 2-year-old from Detroit.
Now the parents of Ayyan Umar are warning other parents to make sure they are versed in first aid techniques like CPR and the Heimlich maneuver so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
The incident occurred in August when Emma Carver was grocery shopping with her son Ayyan.
He was sitting in his shopping cart while his mother was looking at cheese. Earlier in their shopping trip, Emma put some grapes into their cart. She had no idea that her son was even eating those grapes when she heard the sound of him choking.
It was basically every parent’s worst nightmare.
She immediately panicked and tried to dislodge the grapes from her son’s throat by aggressively patting on his back to try and knock them out.
“I even threw the cheese down and I started banging on him,” she told WXYZ. “But it wasn’t getting it out, so it had to be lodged.”
Other shoppers in the store came to her assistance. One called 911, while another tried CPR. Emergency responders arrived with 5 to 7 minutes and managed to remove one grape, but by then it was too late.
“His lips turned blue, his fingers turned blue,” his mother recalled.
Ayyan had already passed away. He was taken to the hospital where a second grape was removed.
“I was feeling like maybe it was a bad dream, maybe somebody gonna wake me up,” his father Mohammad Umar told the news outlet in tears. “He sleeps on my chest. I see him everywhere.”
Their family was completely devastated by the occurrence.
“Choking is a leading cause of injury and death among children, especially those younger than 4 years of age,” according to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “The majority of choking-related incidents among children are associated with food, coins and toys.”
A child will die every five days in the U.S. from choking on food. Some foods that can easily become logged in a child’s throat or lungs includes grapes, popcorn, and nuts.
Hot dogs are said to pose the greatest risk and cause more deaths than any other food.
The family said that they will be taking first aid classes and are encouraging others to do the same. You can find out where you can take these types of courses through your local American Red Cross or your fire department.
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