Great Neck lunchroom monitor praised as hero after saving choking student

GREAT NECK (WABC) -- A lunchroom attendant on Long Island is being praised as a hero after she saved a student choking in the cafeteria.

Azim Keshwani doesn't always like to take tests, but on Wednesday, he was happy he even got to take a test at all.

The eighth-grader at Great Neck South Middle School had quite a scare in the cafeteria last Tuesday, and now, he has a new hero.

"I was eating chicken from school, and I wanted to go outside with all my friends for recess," he said. "So I didn't finish it, and I tried to hurry, and I just swallowed two pieces at once. And one of them just got stuck...I couldn't breath for two minutes. My airway was blocked. It was hard to breathe."

That's when lunchroom monitor Mary Delponte jumped into action.

"When I saw Azim, his eyes looked like they were bulging, and his color wasn't looking good to me," she said. "And it was kind of like a light switch went on for me that I started to perform the Heimlich, and thank God it came out...It was scary."

Principal Dr. James Welsh was quick to praise the actions of his employee.

"(Saving lives is) not what they come to school every day to do, but thank the good Lord that she was prepared and did it and saved our wonderful student," he said. "Very cool under fire. At the conclusion of the event, her coolness left her, and she was very emtional, but at the moment she needed to be cool and focused, she was. She was a true hero."

As it turns out, the teachers and faculty members had a refresher course on CPR and the Heimlich maneuver just one day before the incident, but Mary was not in attendance. Her refresher course was set for this Friday, but she had taken a course the year before and retained that lesson.

"I got her flowers for saving my life," Azim said.

The school district does not require CPR and Heimlich lessons, but Dr. Welsh thinks it's a good idea and one that's clearly paid off.