Quick-thinking 9-year-old saves stricken mother
Taeone Williams knew something was wrong a little after 9 last Wednesday night when she heard a loud “thump” come from her mother’s bedroom.
The 9-year-old leapt off the living room couch and went to see what happened.
She found her mother, 27-year-old Tina Williams, lying on the floor, with her airway choked off by a severe allergic reaction.
“She was face down on the ground and couldn’t really talk,” said Taeone, a fourth-grader at Rochester’s School 2.
What Taeone did next saved her mother’s life.
With her mom losing consciousness on the floor of their Flint Street apartment, Taeone grabbed the phone and called family friend Stacy Hawkins, who lives just a few blocks away on Genesee Street.
“She screamed at me ‘Help, Aunt Stacy, Mommy’s not breathing!’ She was pretty hysterical,” said Hawkins, who has trained as an emergency medical technician. “I said I’d be right there and I told her to open the door and make sure there was a path for the paramedics when they got there.”
Then, Taeone and Hawkins both called 911, and Hawkins loaded her own kids in her van and sped to her friend’s aid. She started CPR. Paramedics from Rural/Metro Ambulance Services soon arrived and gave Williams epinephrine to ease her anaphylaxis.
While her mom was being treated, Taeone kept up her quick thinking. She bundled up her sisters, 2-year-old Kenyetta Johnson and 6-year-old Alivia Williams, along with 3-year-old brother Corde Robison and herded them downstairs to Hawkins’ car so they’d be ready to go to the hospital.
Allergic to nuts, Williams had eaten a piece of chocolate candy she did not realize contained the allergen. Her reaction came on so quickly, she said, she was unable to speak or cry out for help. “When I saw Taeone come in my room, I grabbed at my throat and hoped she would get it,” said Williams, who suffered no long-term effects from her allergic reaction.
She said Taeone’s her hero.
“I’m very impressed and very proud of her,” she said. “I don’t know what would have happened if she wasn’t there that night. My 2-year-old and my 6-year-old wouldn’t have been able to do anything and I wouldn’t be here now.”
Taeone, who was home that night because she decided not to stay at her grandmother’s house with her 11-year-old sister, Breanna McGill, said she just did what was right. But, she said, she’ll never forget what happened.
“It was scary, scarier than (horror movie character) Michael Meyers,” she said. “The scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”
