By FireRescue1 Staff
MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — An off-duty firefighter made a close call save after a 2-year-old choked at an Applebee’s.
Firefighter Adam Gillie was eating dinner with his family when Brooklyn Roberts began choking on a piece of chicken Jan. 1, reported WLWT. Gillie rushed over to Brooklyn, who had stopped breathing.
“That’s when I grabbed her up immediately and performed two back blows,” Gillie said. “I was then able to turn her around and open her mouth and remove the remainder of the food from her airway, and that’s when she took that big deep breath and started crying, which is the most beautiful noise ever.”
Following the incident, Brooklyn paid a visit to Gillie to thank him for saving her life. Her mother, Mary Kate Roberts, was unaware that Gillie was a firefighter, or that he nearly lost his own life two months ago. Gillie fell asleep at the wheel after working 30 hours and was airlifted to a hospital after crashing into a semi-truck.
“I thought that Adam was an angel because when I turned around, he was just right there,” Roberts said. “I thought if he wasn’t there, I would not have been able to live myself if I lost her because she’s my everything.”