8-year-old helps save mom week after dad dies

Just one week after 8-year-old Michael O’Brien Jr.’s father was killed in a car accident, he almost lost his mother too, but thanks to the quick thinking and fast response of this amazing small boy, he was able to help save her life. 26th April in the morning, Michael and his mother were sitting on their couch chatting before school when she began choking on an oatmeal muffin. While Marie was choking and could not speak, Michael calmly called 911, told the correspondent their address and her cell phone number, and stayed on the line to report her symptoms.

Michael’s poise in such a scary situation was even more astonishing because he had just lost his father 10 days before. Michael O’Brien Sr., 34 of Easton, was killed in a one-vehicle accident in Raynham on 16th April. Marie, who grew up in Raynham, said the crash happened a few houses down from her cousin’s house on Elm Street West. She has worked for several years as a mental health worker at Bridgewater State Hospital and had several choking incidents before but none this bad, where she was completely unable to speak.

She was eventually able to dislodge the muffin even before the paramedics arrived but without Michael’s assistance and reassuring, a steady presence she’s not sure if she would have survived. Michael said he thinks his Boy Scout training helped prepare him to handle the emergency.