Saving her son’s life: Mom comes to rescue of choking 4-year-old

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Cindy Steinmann hugs her son, Roman, after she saved his life by giving him the Heimlich maneuver after he choked on a coin last week. Steinmann hopes parents will learn how to use the maneuver for the safety of their children. (Duane Sherrill photo)

Every mother’s nightmare became a reality last week for Cindy Steinmann when she was faced with a life-or-death situation as her 4-year-old son, Roman, began choking.

“I thought he was going to die,” Steinmann, 26, said, recalling the traumatic experience which happened suddenly as she was pulling out of the Wal-Mart parking lot with her mother and her three small children.

Steinmann said the incident began when they purchased a soda from a machine outside the store moments earlier. After getting the soda, her son apparently grabbed a nickel which came from the coin return. The family then got into their car and began leaving.

“I looked over and he was beating himself, trying to breathe. All he could do was point at his throat,” Steinmann said. “It was like all of this was happening in slow motion.”

Steinmann said she began to panic and began screaming. Her mother then directed her to pull over to the side of the road. As she did so, Steinmann said she grabbed her son and pulled him out of the car. Calling upon something she had seen on TV, she gripped the child from behind, around his midsection and pulled slightly upwards inducing the Heimlich maneuver.

“The first time I did it nothing happened,” Steinmann said. “Then, when I did it the second time, the nickel shot out of him.”

Steinmann admitted she could not sleep that night, still shaken from the incident. While not formally trained in Heimlich, she said she had seen it on TV and knew enough to use the procedure which saved her son’s life.

“You just never know when it’s going to happen,” Steinmann said. “I have a 7-year-old daughter and nothing like that had ever happened to her. I think this shows people need to know how to do it for the sake of their children and their families. It can happen to anybody at any time.”

Steinmann said she now plans to take a Heimlich course and a CPR course and hopes her story will get other parents to do the same. She noted she didn’t want to be seen as a hero, but instead, a mother who did what she had to do to save her son.

“I don’t want to be a hero, I want to be a mother,” Steinmann said.

As for Roman, Steinmann said she believes he has learned a hard lesson about putting objects into his mouth.

“After this happened, he told me not to ever let him have money again,” Steinmann said.