A quick-thinking 9-year-old boy became a hero when he saved his friend from choking using the Heimlich maneuver—a skill he picked up from watching YouTube.
Jayceon Branch was playing at Raleigh Oak Charter School in North Carolina when his friend, Darren, suddenly struggled to breathe after eating a granola bar.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jayceon jumped into action, using the Heimlich maneuver he had learned by watching videos online.
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“I didn’t know he was actually, actually choking, so I just did my thing, which was a Heimlich,” Jayceon told WRAL News.
Surveillance footage captured the dramatic moment.
The boys were on the court with two others when Darren suddenly stopped, bent over, and clutched his throat.
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Jayceon, dressed in a white shirt, stepped in immediately, delivering two firm abdominal thrusts.
The food dislodged, Darren was able to breathe again, and within seconds, the boys resumed their game as if nothing had happened.
Jayceon’s father, who admitted he had received calls from the school before, was relieved when he finally listened to a voicemail explaining what had happened.
“I’ve had to be called to the school before; for him,” he said with a wry smile. “But I was hoping this time, like ‘Oh god, don’t let this be this again.’”
Instead of trouble, the call was one of praise—his son had gone from mischievous student to hero in an instant.
Now watch the moment:
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