11-year-old saves mother's life with skills he learned from cub scouts

HINGHAM, Mass. — A Hingham mother has her little boy to thank for saving her life after choking on her lunch two weeks ago.

Amee Synott, mother of Gabe and Nora, started choking while eating her lunch in the kitchen.

"It was just a piece of carrot I inhaled somehow. All of a sudden it was just in my windpipe," Synott said.

Her daughter Nora, who's only eight years old, knew something was wrong with her mother, so naturally, she called out for the only other person who was home, her big brother.

Thankfully, Gabe, at just 11 years old, knew the Heimlich maneuver from a safety lesson he took when he was a Cub Scout to earn a badge. Now, he's thankful for all that training and says its the most important lesson he's ever learned.

"Nora just said 'there is something up with mom, I see her hunched over there," Gabe told Boston 25 News reporter Jessica Reyes.

"I didn't even know he knew the Heimlich, I just knew that I needed someone to help me," Synott said.

Brian O'Neil, an education training coordinator and EMS responder at the South Shore Hospital who taught that safety lesson to Gabe two years ago is proud to see that what he taught was used to save a life.

"Gabe, at 11 years old, was able to save his mother's life using the stuff we taught him," O'Neil Said.

After saving his mother's life, Gabe calmly went back to watching his Netflix show, without even imagining how bad this situation could have been if he hadn't been there.

"In any situation there should always be one person who knows what to do, because if there isn't, people can just randomly die without anyone being able to stop it," Gabe said.

Amee is still overwhelmed with shock, but immensely thankful and proud of her little duo.

Cox Media Group