“His lollipop had come off the stick and was stuck solidly in his throat."

How would you react? Would you know what to do?

A choking three-year-old is strapped in to his car seat. His frantic mother is driving on a busy road. Panicked she pulls over, trying anything, everything to save her child’s life.

Would you know what to do? Would you know how to save the life of your child?

New Zealand mother-of-four Tracey Kaminski has written of her terrifying ordeal on Friday when her three-year-old son choked on a lollipop while sitting in the backseat of her car.

He had been sucking on a round lollipop on a stick when the stick came detached and the hard candy lodged in his throat.

Tracey wrote that she was travelling in heavy traffic with her three-year old son when she heard a strange noise from the backseat.

“I turned to see him struggling, his eyes were bulging wide and screaming help me mum and his mouth was wide open gasping for a breath,” she posted on her Facebook page.

“His lollipop had come off the stick and was stuck solidly in his throat, my baby boy couldn’t breathe.”

She told The New Zealand Herald “He was struggling, his face was going red, his eyes were bulging and he was looking at me like ‘help me, help me’. I went into a panic.”

“I pulled him out of his seat, hit his back, put my fingers down his throat, tipped him upside down. Nothing was working.”

Tracey says that she wildly screamed all the time looking up and down through the traffic hoping someone was calling emergency services.

But then a woman – a blonde mother herself – with a child around the age of 10 in her car leapt from her own vehicle and raced to help Tracey.

She wrote:

“What an amazing person, taking this responsibility into her hands. After lots of solid blows to his back and what appeared to be something like the hymlic [sic] maneuver, he vomited and out it came. I cant describe the relief i felt when she said ‘its out’.”

She says it was a “weird emotion” to watch someone repeatedly hitting your child and not stop them.

“I know it was the right thing … [although] I wanted to take him off her. She was so confident.” She told The New Zealand Herald.

“I hugged kale” she wrote on Facebook ” i hugged this wonderful woman, i hugged kaleb again and hugged her again, i cried…. the shock of what happened was setting in. we suddenly realised we were holding up a long cue of traffic on.whangaparoa road so we quickly got into our cars and moved on.”

What she now realises is that she neglected to get the name of the woman who saved her son’s life and she wants to track her down and say thank you.

“I want to give her the biggest hug and I want her to know my family would’ve been destroyed if we’d lost our little man. She’s a hero. She saved my little boy’s life.”

“Thank God that lovely lady was there. She was my angel.” She told The New Zealand Herald. 

So she turned to Facebook to see if through social media the “angel” could be found.

“She is my hero and i will forever be grateful to her. I want to try and find her, so i can say thank you again and show her my appreciation.”

“i think this is the best chance i have of tracking her down… i dont think she has any idea how thankful i am that she was there and had she had the guts to step up and help in a really scary situation.”

Tracey says that Kaleb has recovered from the ordeal – but will never be given a lollipop again.

According to Pediatrics choking is a leading cause of injury among children, and can sometimes be fatal, especially in children four years of age or younger.

By the age of four 55.2 percent of choking episodes involve hard lollies – like lollipops.

For information on how to help a child in a choking emergency visit this St John’s ambulance information page here.

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