North Texas elementary school teacher saves choking student
CEDAR HILL — It was just another day at lunch for second grader Myla May at Collegiate Prep Elementary School in Cedar Hill. Until...
"I felt like a sharp pain in my throat," Myla said.
She gasped for air and began to choke. Unable to breathe, her friends quickly alerted nearby teacher Kimberly Newman-Curtis.
"She was motioning to her neck, but she didn't say anything," Newman-Curtis recalled.
Fortunately, Cedar Hill ISD requires its teachers to undergo Heimlich maneuver training annually.
Newman-Curtis sprang into action immediately while Myla's mother Allexis Sanders was notified.
"Every bad scenario is running through your head," Allexis Sanders said. "You don't know how severe it is or how long she's been choking."
Newman-Curtis kept performing the Heimlich maneuver until Myla could speak.
Though trained, this was the first time she used it in a real-life emergency.
"The difference is that I saved somebody," she said while reflecting. Tearing up, Newman-Curtis said, "It's overwhelming. I never really thought about it. It took a while to process. I am still processing it, but I am just grateful I was there."
"Thank God, she knew what she was doing. I don't think words can describe how grateful I am. If she wasn't there, we would have had a very different story today," Sanders said.
