This sixth-grader saved his friend's life — thanks to first-aid training he got during class

It was a story that could have ended much worse. Windsor, Ont., Grade 6 student Tony Elsoury was chewing as he got up, and moments later his friend was giving him a life-saving Heimlich manoeuvre.

It's something students were prepared for thanks to an in-class first aid training at his school, École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Thérèse. 

"When it happened, it felt like, you know when you're underwater deep and you can't breathe anymore," said Elsoury, 12, of the incident last Thursday.

"When he was helping me, it felt like I was trying to swim up. When he saved me, it felt like my head popped out of the water and I actually got the chance to breathe."

Elsoury says it started when he took a quick bite of pasta as he was getting up to use the bathroom before recess. Realizing all of a sudden he couldn't inhale, he turned back to his classmates knowing they were all trained in first aid. 

Elsoury says he was scared, but knew he had to calm down so his friends could help.

At first, he says some students thought he was joking around. But his good friend Zane Bassam says he noticed he really needed help. 

"His face was like really red. He had his hands around his neck and he couldn't breathe and there was spit coming down his mouth and all that," said Bassam. "That's when I knew."

Bassam says he directed another student to go get the teacher from the neighbouring classroom, and started first aid himself: First, a series of five hard back blows that didn't work, then the Heimlich manoeuvre. 

"I was really anxious," Bassam said. "But I knew that I didn't want it to get any worse. So I just went straight ahead."

Student Dominic Vitale was the one who ran to the class next door to get the teacher. 

"[I was thinking] 'oh my God' he's really choking," Vitale said.

"I wouldn't have thought this would actually happen this year, but it did."

The Heimlich manoeuvre is a series of five abdominal thrusts, performed by wrapping your arms around someone from their back and pushing hard, with both hands and a quick upward motion, into their stomach to dislodge objects trapped in their throat. When done correctly, it works by using the remaining air in a person's lungs to dislodge the object.