Mailman delivers lifesaving Heimlich maneuver to choking baby

A South Carolina mother says her son wouldn't be celebrating his first birthday this weekend if not for her postman.
On Friday, Stephanie Cooper's 11-month-old son Eli put a plastic wrapper in his mouth, WYFF reports, and it became stuck in his throat. Cooper said she tried to dislodge the wrapper by hitting him on the back; when that didn't work, she ran out of her house and saw the postman, Chris Brown.
Immediately, Brown did the Heimlich maneuver on Eli, which he had learned to do several years ago during emergency training at the post office. "The baby started crying so I said, 'He's OK mom, he's OK,'" he said. Cooper says she believes "it was no coincidence that Chris was here at that exact time," and calls Brown a hero. "I really don't feel that way," he responded. "I would have done it for anyone, or I hope someone would have done it for my children." --Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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