NI child choking on sweet saved by mystery hero

A Northern Ireland woman is desperately seeking the identity of mystery hero who she says saved her seven-year-old daughter’s life.
Heidi McAdam was saved by a strangerHeidi McAdam was saved by a stranger
Heidi McAdam was saved by a stranger

Lorna Carroll says she is indebted to a Good Samaritan who came to the aid of her daughter Heidi McAdam after she choked on a sweet in Banbridge town centre.

The terrifying incident happened in Poundstretcher in the Co Down town over a week ago, but despite her best efforts, Lorna has so far been unable to track down Heidi’s knight in shining armour.

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Lorna, who is originally from the Irish Republic, told the News Letter: “I had to go down to Dublin for the day and Heidi went into town with my friend and her daughter, who are best friends. They were walking through Poundstretcher and she was eating a bag of pick and mix.

“Her and her friend must have been having a little giggle or something and one of the sweets got caught in the back of her throat and she started to choke.

“My friend got an awful fright and started banging on Heidi’s back, but couldn’t get the sweet back up.”

St Mary’s PS pupil Heidi started to go “purple and blue” and Lorna’s friend, now in a panicked state, was about to shout for help.

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But just at that moment, a stranger came running over, performed the Heimlich manoeuvre on Heidi and got her breathing again.

“I was absolutely beside myself when I heard what had happened,” Lorna said.

“But Heidi took it all in her stride and got over it pretty quickly. My poor friend however was really shook up.

“It all happened so fast that my friend honestly can’t remember much about the guy. She thinks he must be local as she has seen him down the town a couple of times.”

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The family have asked Poundstretcher to view CCTV footage of the incident so they can get a description of the mystery man.

“The manager has said they will look into but we haven’t heard anything back so far,” she added.

Lorna is now calling on the heroic figure to come forward so the family can thank him properly.

“If it wasn’t for him there is a good chance Heidi wouldn’t be here with us today,” she added.

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“I would love to know who he is and for him to know how thankful we all are for what he did. He deserves to be known as the local hero.

“He is certainly my hero, as he saved my little girl’s life.”

The incident happened on Saturday, August 31, between 3pm-4pm. Lorna has asked the man to contact her through Facebook.

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