An 8-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of his choking friend in the elementary school cafeteria.
Thomas Conley, a second-grade student at Porter Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona, noticed that his friend was choking on a grape and sprang into action, according to local reports.
Conley immediately performed the Heimlich maneuver — also known as abdominal thrusts — on Isaiah Rodriguez, which dislodged the grape.
Mesa Public Schools commended Conley on social media after the heroic moment, which occurred on Nov. 14.
An 8-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of his choking friend in the elementary school cafeteria. (Candice Conley/Mesa Public Schools)
“Thanks to Thomas’ quick thinking, Isaiah was able to breathe normally again. Thank you, Thomas, for your courage and for being a true hero!”
Candice Conley, Thomas’ mother, spoke with Fox News Digital about his son’s life-saving actions.
“We are so proud of him,” she said. “Thomas is very quick-thinking and active — and he’s just a really good friend.”
The family often discusses food safety and kitchen safety at home, Conley said, as she and her husband have both worked in the food industry, and she now works in the Department of Public Health for Maricopa County.
“I think a lot of people, maybe even some adults, might not realize that somebody’s choking,” she said. “Thomas just knew that he had to get air to go up to dislodge the grape.”
Thomas Conley (right) saved his friend, Isaiah Rodriguez (left), who was choking on a grape in the school cafeteria. (Candice Conley)
The parents of Rodriguez, the boy Thomas Conley saved, were “so thankful,” Conley told Fox News Digital.
“The first time I saw his mom, I just hugged her,” she said. “We are just so thankful, most of all, that Isaiah is OK.”
