Little did one Tecumseh girl know, that her new skills would be put to the test in her very first 'adventure in babysitting'.
Fenyx Leblanc-Aubin took a babysitting course so she could watch her cousin Nora. The 11-year-old got her chance to watch the 10-month old at a family birthday party in January.
“So I figured, this would be a good time to practice, while we're all still here,” says Nicolette LeBlanc, Nora's mom.
Little did LeBlanc know, the trial run would turn into the ultimate test.
“The next thing we heard was, Noras' not breathing,” says LeBlanc.
Nora was choking on a wad of tissue paper, snatched from a nearby gift bag
“She started coughing, coughing, and then her face went all red and I went (boom, boom, boom) and I got the tissue paper out of her throat,” says Fenyx.
Her mom says by the time they got there, Fenyx had already got it dislodged and she was crying more than Nora.
“I knew if I didn't, Nora would, like, be unconscious and we would have to call an ambulance,” says Fenyx.
The young rescuer got some recognition for from the Canadian Red Cross on Tuesday. The family's personal story became a lesson for the Grade 6 class at St Antoine School in Tecumseh.
“Someone couldn't breathe, starts to turn blue, and then we have that one student in this class who knew what to do, why did she know what to do? Because she took the babysitting course,” says C.J. Taylor, manager of prevention and safety with the Canadian Red Cross.
