Kidsburgh: Moms spread the word about LifeVac device that saved local boy
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - One child dies every five days from choking, but a device called LifeVac has saved 700 people who were choking and likely would have died. In fact, a woman in our area saved her own child with it, and it was all recorded on her security camera.
Like most toddlers, Mason Weir is non-stop motion, so when he suddenly became still a year and a half ago, his mom, Brittany, knew something was wrong.
"I looked at him, and I immediately knew that he was choking," said Brittany Massie Weir.
Brittany Weir's CPR training kicked in, and she used back blows to try to dislodge the obstruction, but when it didn't work, she ran outside with the LifeVac device she just got three weeks earlier.
She was thinking, "You have to hold it together right now because you're the only one that's here that can save him. If you fall apart, he's not going to make it."
Brittany's since become a huge advocate for LifeVac, donating 46 to her community around Kennedy Township near Robinson.
She's giving a LiveVac kit to Heidi Priest who's raising money with the Women's Committee of Butler to get the devices in every school in Butler County. Each kit is $70. Heidi wants her daughters in Butler schools, or anyone who's choking, to have every opportunity to live.
"When it's preventable with a small device that's easy to keep in your home, easy to keep in the school, easy to keep close to anywhere someone's eating, it's just a no-brainer," Heidi Priest said.
Brittany demonstrates and teaches at events how LifeVac works -- basically like a plunger. The LifeVac is easy to use. You select which size you need – adult or child. Then you seal the mask over the face including the nose. You push down. The air goes out, not into the throat, and you pull up and the obstruction comes right out, usually on the first try.
Brittany reminds us it only takes four minutes before the brain starts to die and someone then goes into cardiac arrest.
LifeVac President and co-founder Michael Plunkett says, "If you're at home, the amount of time for the first responders to get there is going to take too long."
LifeVac still recommends doing the Heimlich maneuver first, but for babies, people who are in wheelchairs, immobile or alone, LifeVac may be their only chance to live.
"It's very surreal when you hear of other parents who lost their children, knowing that that was our alternative," Brittany says. "I'm just so grateful that he's here and every day is a blessing."
There's a bill in the works to require all Pennsylvania schools to have LifeVac kits. It's expected to be introduced later this month or next.
If you'd like to donate to help Heidi get them in all Butler schools, click here. Any amount over will go toward purchasing them for restaurants and first responders in Butler County. And if you'd like to purchase a LifeVac kit, go to this site. Use Brittany's promo code that will give you a 10% discount: BMW10.
