‘When I saw the boy going blue I just knew I had to save his life’

A cafe manager says she feels ‘proud’ after saving the life of a child who was choking on multiple hard boiled sweets in a hospital waiting area. Sally Malkin, of Gedney Hill, leapt into action to save the life of a toddler at the Johnson Community Hospital, in Pinchbeck . The 59-year-old, who works at The Coffee Pot at the hospital, was preparing food for customers on March 20 when she noticed a disturbance in the waiting area.

What Sally believed to be a child being sick, quickly turned into a fast-paced rescue mission. She said: “I was sorting out the paninis in the cafe and saw a mum with a little boy, who was probably two or three-years old. “The boy was in a push chair and looked like he was being sick.



“I made my way over to them both with some kitchen roll and then the mum started lightly tapping his back. “It was at that moment he started gasping for air and drooling – it was quite frightening.” After previously taking first aid training courses, Sally instantly knew what she needed to do and asked the receptionists to call for help.

She added: “I could tell the mum wasn’t hitting his back hard enough so I grabbed him and put him over my knee and banged his back a couple of times. “A bit of hard boiled sweet came up and the little boy tried to start crying, took a gasp and then his lips were turning blue. “When I saw him going blue I just knew I had to save his life as there was no oxygen getting into his body.

“I whacked the middle part of his back and another two sweets came up. “Everything was a blur. I think I just went into a mode and everything clicked.

When I looked up the nurses were here and I had sorted it all.” It is believed the toddler had already spat out two of the hard boiled sweets before Sally got to him. The urgent care team took the boy to the unit, where he was later discharged.

Sally has since received chocolates and flowers from regular customers and work colleagues in other departments who commended her kind act. “It was always a worry of mine when my own children were younger, the adrenaline just took over” she added. “People keep telling me how calm I was – I do feel proud.

” After working at the Coffee Pot for more than five years, Sally also stepped in to help in a separate incident, whereby a lady in the hospital's waiting room started having a seizure. There is advice on the NHS website detailing what to do if a child is choking..