Chick-fil-A employee praised for saving choking child
Drive-thru Hero: Meet a Chick-fil-A employee praised for saving a child who was choking on a coin
Updated: September 21, 2023, 11:43 p.m. EDT
A Chick-fil-A employee in Georgia is being praised for her heroic actions in saving a 3-year-old girl who was choking on a coin. Chick-fil-A team member Mia Isabella Velez was recently reunited with the child and her grateful mother. It all started when, during a shopping trip, Liliana Leahy’s maternal instinct drove her to a Chick-fil-A restaurant parking lot in Newnan, Georgia, a community in the Atlanta metropolitan area. “Something tells me, ‘Go take a turn, go take a turn,” Liliana told WXIA, adding that she listened to her gut. Her daughter, three-year-old Theia, was in the back seat. And the turnaround was ultimately a life-saving action. Liliana explained that as she pulled into the parking lot, Theia began choking and was no longer able to speak. “I started screaming. It was like, ‘Hey, help me. Someone help me. My daughter is suffocating,’” Liliana said. “I just panicked and just wanted to ask for help. “To be honest, I was really scared for her.” As they worked in the restaurant’s drive-thru, mother and daughter caught Velez’s eye. “To be honest, I originally thought they were laughing and having fun, but that actually wasn’t the case,” Velez said. When Velez realized something was wrong, he didn’t hesitate to help. “My instinct just kicked in, I dropped my iPad and ran straight towards her,” Velez remembers. When Velez Theia performed the Heimlich maneuver, a coin flew out of the child’s mouth. “That thing was huge,” Velez said of the coin. “I had seen it at that moment, but when I saw it now, I thought I had forgotten that came out of your mouth.” With the innocence of a child, Theia had only one request after the heartbreaking incident. “The first thing she said was literally, ‘I want some ice cream,'” Liliana said of her daughter. For Velez, it was a joy to help the child when she was in need, but the Chick-fil-A employee still isn’t used to being hailed as a hero. “It’s surreal when you hear that you saved her life, you don’t expect to get that title,” Velez said. Velez, who is 18 and recently moved to the Georgia community from California, takes the experience as a life lesson: “It’s a lesson for all of us to learn that it’s so easy to be for someone else, and I’m so glad that I have to be the one for this family,” Velez said.
A Chick-fil-A employee in Georgia is being praised for her heroic actions in saving a 3-year-old girl who was choking on a coin. Chick-fil-A team member Mia Isabella Velez was recently reunited with the child and his grateful mother.
It all started when, while on a shopping trip, Liliana Leahy’s maternal instinct drove her into the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Newnan, Georgia, a community in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
“Something says, ‘Go take a turn, go take a turn,'” Liliana told WXIA, adding that she listened to her gut.
Her daughter, three-year-old Theia, was in the back seat. And the turnaround was ultimately a life-saving action.
Liliana explained that as she pulled into the parking lot, Theia began choking and was no longer able to speak.
“I started screaming. It was like, ‘Hey, help me. Someone help me. My daughter is suffocating,’” Liliana said. “I just panicked and just wanted to ask for help. To be honest, I was really scared for her.”
While working in the restaurant’s drive-thru, the mother and daughter caught Velez’s attention.
“To be honest, I originally thought they were laughing and having fun, but that actually wasn’t the case,” Velez said.
When Velez realized something was wrong, he didn’t hesitate to help.
“My instinct just kicked in, I dropped my iPad and ran straight towards her,” Velez remembers.
When Velez gave Theia the Heimlich maneuver, a coin flew out of the child’s mouth.
“That thing was huge,” Velez said of the coin. “I had seen it at that moment, but when I saw it now I thought I had forgotten that came out of your mouth.”
With the innocence of a child, Theia only had one request after the heartbreaking incident.
“The first thing she said was literally, ‘I want some ice cream,'” Liliana said of her daughter.
For Velez, it was a joy to help the child when she was in need, but the Chick-fil-A employee still isn’t used to being hailed as a hero.
“It’s surreal when you hear that you saved her life, you don’t expect to get that title,” Velez said.
Velez, who is 18 and recently moved to Georgia Township from California, takes the experience as a life lesson.
“It’s a lesson for all of us to learn that it’s so easy to be for someone else, and I’m so glad I got to be that one for this family,” Velez said.
