The driver was filmed grabbing a terrified boy. Then, kids witnessed a desperate race against time when one school bus driver heard a young boy making strange noises behind her. She turned her head to see what was going on. As she did so, she was shocked to realize the student was in grave danger. What happened next was simply stunning.
Ginger Maxville comes from Green Country in Oklahoma. She works there as a teacher’s assistant for Manfred Public Schools, helping children with special needs. However, that’s not her only job. She also works as a bus driver, taking kids to and from school each day. Maxwell’s school bus was no doubt frequently filled with lively and excitable children.
However, one particular bus journey will live with a driver forever. That’s because their bus descended into chaos when one boy stood up mid-journey. The child in question was a five-year-old boy who was sitting at the front of the bus.
As he rose to his feet, the boy began making a series of strange noises. “I thought he was just teasing me, and I thought he just wasn’t following my instructions and not sitting down,” his sister said. “He swallowed, I think he swallowed a coin.” It was clear to see the little boy was choking. Maxwell knew she only had a short window before he stopped breathing, so she quickly pulled over.
“I made sure the bus was secure, went back, and grabbed the student. It was just red and just gasping,” she said. The surveillance camera on the bus captured exactly what happened next. In the dramatic footage, Maxwell left from her seat and lifted the gasping boy into the aisle. “Okay, it’s okay,” she reassured the child.
In a shocking video, Maxwell began to perform the Heimlich maneuver on the child. The maneuver is a first aid technique that involves administering abdominal thrusts to a person who’s choking. Maxwell had learned the trick 17 years ago during CPR training. She never needed to use it until now. In the extraordinary footage, Maxwell stands behind the little boy and pushes her clasped hands beneath his ribs.
After a few thrusts, something shiny falls out of the boy’s mouth. Then, the driver can be heard telling him, “Okay, got it, got it. I hit her to hit the floor, and then I saw it rolling, and I said, ‘We got it,’” she recalled in her interview with KTUL TV. After saving the little boy’s life, Maxwell issued him with a stern warning that she hoped would stay with him for the rest of his life. As seen in the video footage, she tells him, [Music] “Don’t you do that again, you hear me?
However, she didn’t stay mad at the boy for very long. After retrieving a tissue from her belongings by the seat, she helped to clean up the little boy’s face. Then, she leaned over to give a shell-shocked kid a much-needed cuddle. When news of the bus driver’s life-saving efforts spread, many people in the community hailed her as a hero. However, modest Maxwell said she was simply doing her job.
After all, she thought, if you can’t trust people like her to keep children safe, who can you rely on? Although the teacher’s assistant was grateful for the recognition she got, she claimed that her actions were simply second nature. “In fact, I feel like I don’t deserve a lot of credit. You know, it was just God working through me, but I’m just glad we got it done,” she said. Thankfully, the little boy soon recovered from his ordeal, and he asked Maxwell if he could keep the coin he coughed up.
Maxwell reluctantly agreed on the condition he swore never to swallow a penny again. The media later named the boy as kindergarten student Cameron Jansen. Just a week after his terrifying experience, he was happy to explain what had happened. “Want to know what happened on the bus?” he asked reporters from News on Six.
“I put a coin in my mouth, then it choked me. The bus driver just pushed my belly three times, and that quarter went out,” he added, as if it was nothing. However, Cameron’s mom, Robin Jansen, was not so blasé about what had happened. “Watching the video and watching his face, yes, I could tell that my son was very scared,” she said. Consequently, she was keen to thank Maxwell for her quick thinking.
“I really appreciate you being there,” News on Six quoted Chansing as telling Maxwell. She added, “She’s an angel. She just really is an angel in our eyes.” Objects becoming lodged in the windpipe can often cause people to choke. If someone’s choking, they may be unable to talk or even cough.
They may have difficulty breathing and may start to turn blue as they struggle to take in oxygen. Although Maxwell’s actions were clearly life-saving, most health bodies recommend resorting to abdominal thrusts only as a last resort. Alternatively, if someone’s choking, the Red Cross advises rescuers to administer five back blows between the person’s shoulder blades and then to perform five abdominal thrusts. After that, the aid giver should alternate between the two techniques until the object becomes dislodged. To perform the Heimlich maneuver, you should stand behind the person in need and place a fist above their navel.
From there, grab the fist with your free hand and press into the abdomen using hard upward thrusts. However, to learn the procedure properly and to potentially become a lifesaver like Maxwell, it’s best to take CPR lessons.
