Sikeston teacher saves co-worker from choking

SIKESTON, Mo. -- At the beginning of the day, Nancy Kent greeted her summer school pupils at the Kindergarten Center on June 3 with vigor and enthusiasm.

At the end of the day, she saved a co-worker's life.

Kent was making bus tags for her students when she heard someone pounding on her outside classroom door. On the other side was fellow teacher Corrie Gordon gasping for air.

Gordon had choked on a Popsicle she had been eating outside with her students. And for reasons unknown even to her, she headed straight for Kent's classroom.

"I thought I could cough or clear my throat like you sometimes do and it would be OK," Gordon said. "But it didn't help, so I told my class I was going to get a drink of water. I really don't know why I went to Nancy's classroom to get it."

By the time she reached Kent's door, she couldn't inhale or exhale and her face was turning blue. She thought about her 4-month-old daughter and what she would if she died. She tried to gesture to Kent what was happening.

Kent got the message. She got behind Gordon and performed the Heimlich maneuver.

"I'd never done it on a real person before," Kent said. "I was scared to death. My adrenalin must've really been pumping because when I got home I noticed that the antique ring I was wearing had been bent. I felt so badly because I just knew Corrie must be black and blue if my ring was bent but she wasn't."

Gordon was fine the next day, apart from a sore throat.

"That's the closest to death I've ever been. I will never eat a Popsicle again," she vowed.