Twin sister performs Heimlich maneuver to save her brother from choking: 'I had to help him'

Amelia Loverme is being lauded for saving her brother Charlie after he choked on a piece of mozzarella cheese at Leicester Middle School. She helped him as she saw him choking on a table near her in the school cafeteria. She made use of the Heimlich maneuver, according to the WBZ News. "It was just instinct, I didn't really know what to do, I just feel like I had to help him," Amelia said. The incident was captured by a surveillance camera, where Charlie was seen near the lunch tables as he held his chest and walked for a bit. His friends did not know what to do and stood still. But his twin sister saved the day with her quick response, reported PEOPLE. 

"I'm going to die," Charlie thought at the time. "It's just scary and you just don't know what's going to happen next and it's just really scary." "They were all pretty scared and they didn't know what to do," Amelia told WBZ News about Charlie's classmates. Some of his classmates even tried to distance themselves from this emergency. A few seconds later, Amelia came to help her brother as she applied the Heimlich maneuver.

As for their father, Jason Loverme, he said that adults should "talk to the kids about life-saving stuff like this." "Whether you think it registers or not, they may tune it out but clearly something registered and she recalled it when she needed it," he also added, "If you can help somebody and you can react regardless of if you're nervous or not, you should." Since then, Amelia has earned both praise and recognition from her school and even the local authorities, such as the local police and the District Attorney, are planning to award her. Charlie is also grateful to his sister for saving his life, "I would just say thank you because I'm still here."

The Red Cross has guidelines on how to help a person who is choking. It reads, "Give five back blows. Stand to the side and just behind a choking adult. For a child, kneel down behind. Place your arm across the person's chest to support the person's body. Bend the person over at the waist to face the ground. Strike five separate times between the person's shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. Give five abdominal thrusts. If back blows don't remove the stuck object, give five abdominal thrusts, also known as the Heimlich maneuver."

In another moving story about siblings, Indiana basketball junior Anthony Leal realized his sister would graduate from college with a substantial debt hanging over her head, so he decided quietly to take the burden away from her shoulders. Leal, a business major at Indiana University who plays point guard for the Indiana Hoosiers, got straight to work when the NCAA changed its policy in 2021, enabling student-athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness. 

A video of his heartwarming surprise shows his sister, Lauren Leal, opening a card from her young brother with an adorable note and the news that he has paid off her student loans. The note read, "Hey sis, I wanted you to know how much I look up to you and admire who you are. Your soul is beautiful and you are the best role model ever. There is no doubt that I have made it to where I am today because of you. Someone like you deserves no burdens or restrictions in life." What a heartwarming duo!