Woman saves girlfriend’s homophobic grandmother from choking to death at Christmas dinner
Lizzy Bristow shares how she ended up saving the life of her girlfriend’s homophobic grandmother over Christmas in a TikTok video. (TikTok/@bodybydaddy)
A TikToker has shared the incredible story of how she saved the life of her girlfriend’s homophobic grandmother, who choked during Christmas dinner.
Lizzy Bristow, a fitness trainer, recounted the heroic ordeal in a now-viral video posted to her TikTok account, bodybydaddy.
Bristow set the scene by explaining she had been invited to join her girlfriend’s family for their annual festive celebrations when the homophobic 91-year-old woman, referred to as “Dana”, suddenly choked on her food.
“My girlfriend’s out the room and her mom’s out the room,” Bristow recalled. “We had steak for dinner, it was delicious.”
She continued: “The brother notices though that the grandmother is chewing, looking down. She can’t swallow something, she’s really struggling.”
@bodybydaddy The longest 5 minutes of my life #christmas2021 #grandma #cpr
Bristow said they frantically tried to find out if Dana was OK when her face “all of a sudden” turned “blue”. That’s when Bristow said she quickly stood up and asked if anyone knew the Heimlich.
“The oldest brother, the strongest one, he tries. But he doesn’t know what he’s doing because he’s not CPR certified, I am,” she said.
Bristow said she quickly took over and did “belly button thumb” before she began “thrusting as hard as I can” to help save the grandmother.
Shortly after she began the technique, Bristow said Dana “passes out in my arms”. So she quickly started chest compressions, timing them to the chorus of “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees.
As she was administering the life-saving technique, the TikToker recalled how Dana asked the homophobic-charged question about her relationship just earlier in the evening.
“An hour before this, this woman had just asked me if I was the boy,” Bristow said. “Now I’m over her, giving her compressions, probably breaking her ribs.”
Thankfully, Bristow’s CPR worked and she felt Dana’s “lungs breathe back at me”. She said a “piece of food just appears in her mouth” just a “couple of pumps later”, and her girlfriend’s dad quickly pulled it out.
The colour quickly “came back” to Dana’s face and she tried to say something, but Bristow couldn’t recall at that moment exactly what was said – she was too exhilarated that her CPR technique actually worked and saved a life.
“I felt like I won the Superbowl,” Bristow said. “I never want to do that again. Everyone get CPR certified.”
The TikToker told LGBTQ Nation that she believed everyone should learn CPR because “it can be the difference between life or death”.
“And you never want to look back on a situation and go, ‘Oh my God, I wish someone in the room would have known CPR,” Bristow said.
She added: “If I wouldn’t have been at the dinner, no one would have known CPR, but she would have just choked and probably died.”
