‘Thanks, son’
Boy save Dad from choking
By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Most people have never saved a
life. It’s not, fortunately, an everyday occurrence. But for one Wood
River Valley 8-year old, it happened. The life he saved was his
father’s.
One evening at home, Cyndi DuFur,
was "doing a good mom thing and showing the kids how to dial 911 and
about the Heimlich maneuver," Brad DuFur said.
A very proud Brad DuFur hugs
his quick thinking son, Doug.
Express photo by Willy Cook
Doug, the 8-year old, tried it out
but couldn’t get his arms around his parents enough. So, Cyndi suggested
that if he ever saw anyone in trouble choking, and that person couldn’t
talk, then he might give the person a Soo Bak-Do punch above the belly
button. Doug has taken the Korean form of martial arts for five years.
A week or so later, on Feb. 17,
the whole family, including Doug’s siblings Daniel, 6, and Christina, 3,
went to Boise for a concert. They made a run to the Boise Town Square
mall first.
While Cyndi was shopping on
another level, Brad took the kids to his favorite place, Dairy Queen.
"We found a bench that was in a
deserted area and while we were eating our ice cream I sucked in a large
piece of the sugar cone," DuFur said.
"I was too cavalier, it didn’t
move so I kept trying to swallow. I stood up looking for an adult, but
no one was around. I wasn’t breathing, in or out, not one bit."
At this point DuFur started to
panic.
"Okay, this is the end of his
life," Doug recalled. "It was so scary because I was worried about him.
He was blue."
DuFur had reached crisis point.
"I had both hands around my throat
and I was getting dizzy. The kids were blurry. Dougie said, ‘Bye Daddy.’
I had gotten to a point where my throat was spasming."
A moment later, there was a blur
as Doug punched his father above the belly button to dislodge the cone
and save him.
Though he was still wheezing and
unable to talk, DuFur could hear Daniel saying, "Are you dying?"
"They were rubbing my back and I
kept giving them a thumbs-up. I thought I’d be able to breathe easier,
but I couldn’t."
Doug said he didn’t even think
about the punch. One minute he was watching his father losing a battle
and the next he punched.
"I was having butterflies because
I really wanted it to work. I felt like I was a hero."
Doug is a hero in his class at The
Community School, where he told the story and demonstrated what he’d
done. He also got a Beyblade, a hot new toy, when his father treated
them all to a shopping spree at Toys R Us immediately after the
incident.
"We’re trying to celebrate it as a
whole positive thing," DuFur said. "He remembered what Mom told him.
It’s good for parents to talk to their kids about this and have them
practice."
When Cyndi told Oliver Whitcomb,
Doug’s Soo Bak-Do instructor, what Doug had done, he said, "You owe me
dinner."
"My family feels it all came
together for a reason," Cyndi said. "We had a five-minute talk one night
and a week later this happens. It was weird. Brad had little angels
around him."