Many families rush from kids’ events like little league to piano lessons. Often, eating meals on the go is their only option.
Rushing from school in West Ashley, mom Laura Trowbridge picked up snacks for her kids before heading to their next destination last Monday.
“I saw her in the rear view mirror,” Laura said about her daughter Claire. “She had both hands around her throat, and she was turning red.”
Laura stopped in the middle of the busy intersection near Earthfare to attempt the Heimlich Maneuver three times on her 8-year-old daughter, but it wasn’t working.
“I realized I only had minutes,” Laura explained.
Another man came to rescue, but he couldn’t get Claire breathing again either.
“She was unconscious. Her lips were blue. She was limp,” Laura said as she explained how helpless she felt in those seconds.
Former Charleston Police Officer, Scott Epps, was running errands in the area when he spotted Laura’s car in the middle of the busy intersection.
“I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but I knew it involved a child,” he said.
Recently re-certified in the Heimlich, Epps started working.
“She was limp,” he said. “I just thought about what it would take to bring her back to normal.”
“He kept doing it,” Laura said with gratitude. “Multiple, multiple times, and I think that’s what saved her life.”
That Sunday, Claire took her first communion with both her savior and her hero present.
“I felt joyful that someone cared about me and would help me,” 8-year-old Claire said.
