In August 2014, mom Stephanie Cooper from Greer, South Carolina, had the scare of her life. Her little boy Eli was playing around with a plastic wrapper. Stephanie noticed that Eli – who was just eleven months old at the time – put a piece of the plastic in his mouth.
Eli started to have difficulties breathing and Stephanie tried to grab the piece of plastic out of his mouth to clear up his airways. She frantically reached for the piece he was suffocating on but couldn’t find it.
“I slapped his back between the shoulder blades and realized he still wasn’t getting any air,” Stephanie mentioned to Greertoday.
Seconds later, she thought her husband was coming home as she heard a car.
In total panic, she opened the door and didn’t see her husband, but the mailman instead.
““I didn’t realize at the time it was a life and death situation. I was shocked when Mrs. Cooper ran out of the house with her son in her arms,” mail carrier Chris Brown said. “I just knew the child wasn’t breathing and I had to get oxygen to his lungs.”
Chris knew that permanent brain damage was imminent if he didn’t get the piece of plastic out, so he didn’t hesitate for a second and did everything he could to save him.
“A calm just came over me and I just wanted to get this child breathing again. The child was so little, I worried about squeezing him too hard with the Heimlich maneuver,” the mail carrier said.
As a mailman, Chris had received emergency training on how to use the Heimlich maneuver years ago.
“When I heard the baby crying I knew he was going to be all right,” Chris said. “The plastic came right out.”
“My son’s life was in his hands,” Stephanie recalls. “It was so creepy. I am just so glad Chris was here,” Cooper said. “I think it was 45 minutes to an hour, when Eli was in my arms, I just cried, and cried and cried. At that point Eli was just laughing and looking at me.”
Chris calls it a divine intervention, as he just happened to pass by at exactly the right time due to a small delay he made on his way to the Cooper residence.
Ellen DeGeneres heard about this amazing rescue and decided to invite Stephanie, little Eli and mail carrier Chris to the Ellen show to share their story. At the end of the episode, Ellen also gifted Stephanie a new mailbox with “Our mailman is a hero” printed on it.
The popular talk show host also wanted to provide Chris with a bunch of gifts for his heroic acts, but they weren’t able to give him a prize because he is a government employee.
However, Ellen thought it was unfair and surprised him with a ticket for one of Ellen’s later shows including a “12 Days of Giveaways” Christmas event. If there is one person who deserves a fantastic Christmas present, it’s definitely this fantastic and brave mailman!
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