‘Olivia nearly died. She went to chew a grape, it shot to the back of her throat and got wedged.’: Mom’s warning for other parents to learn from her ‘carelessness’

‘Last night Olivia nearly died.

And it was my fault.

I made her and Oscar a snack, handful of grapes and some dried cereal.

It was the first time since hearing about that poor child who died choking on a grape that I didn’t cut them in half.

I figured- she’s almost 5, she isn’t the kind of kid to shovel food and choke, and I was rushing to finish cleaning the house.

So off she went upstairs with her bowls of snack to carry on playing with her brother. I continued vacuuming, luckily, I’d switched it off when I heard her at the top of the stairs. I knew in an instant what had happened. I ran to her. She couldn’t breathe.

She had gone to chew a grape and it had shot to the back of her throat, gone down and got wedged.

I turned her over and hit her as hard as I could between the shoulder blades and still nothing. She was looking me dead in the eyes and her lips turned blue as she couldn’t breathe at all.

Jamie finally managed to perform some maneuver on her that sent this grape pictured flying across the room.

I lay here now watching her sleep. I’ve cried most the night and my heart hurts as I look at her chest where there are still nail indentations from where she clawed at her throat for air.

PLEASE PLEASE let this be a reminder to all the parents out there – my life nearly changed forever last night all because of my carelessness.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Laura Lou Chambers of the United Kingdom. Do you have a similar experience? We’d love to hear your story. Submit your own story here, and subscribe to our best stories in our free newsletter here.

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