Seventeen-year-old Damian De Los Reyes was giving the family dogs a bath recently when he looked up and saw his 9-year-old brother, Zack, holding his throat, his face purple. In a split second, Damian was behind his brother, performing the Heimlich maneuver. Never mind that Damian had no formal training on the emergency technique. The teen was acting on instinct. He said he knew his brother was dying.
"It was really scary," Damian said. Zack vomited, and it helped a little, but he was still gasping for breath and grabbing his throat, the Paloma Valley High School junior said. Damian grabbed his little brother and took him to neighbor Juan Munoz's home. He knew Munoz, who has a child with severe allergies, was trained to know what to do in the event of an emergency. At that point, Damian said, he didn't know why his brother couldn't breathe, and wasn't sure if it was an allergic reaction or something was lodged in his throat. When Munoz looked down Zack's throat, he saw the culprit ---- a small, round plastic part of a toy whistle. Munoz was able to help Zack vomit out the toy. Zack was rushed by ambulance to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, and is now recovering. In the aftermath, Damian's quick reaction has been heralded by the family as life-saving. Damian had been babysitting at the time of the incident, which took place Friday around dusk. "You can't help but think of the what ifs," said Erica De Los Reyes, the boys' mother. "He's a bona fide Damian De Los Reyes, 17, is glad to have been able to help save his 9-year-old brother Zack's life Friday. When Zack was playing with a plastic siren whistle that accidentally got stuck in his throat, Damian saw his brother choking and rushed to his aid, performing the Heimlich maneuver. Adrienne Stone, Erica's sister and the boys' aunt, echoed the sentiment. "I guess instinct took over because he saved his 9-year-old brother's life. I was so proud of him," Stone said. At the hospital, doctors told Damian he did the right thing, Erica De Los Reyes said. "I am glad it turned out the way it did," Damian said. Zack described the incident as "creepy." The doctors advised that Zack drink a lot of apple juice, and when the family stopped by the grocery store after leaving the hospital, the young boy asked his father to buy two thank you cards, one for Munoz and the other for his big brother. "I wrote in the card, 'Thanks for saving me,'" Zack said.
