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Jacksonville librarian saves fourth grader from choking on candy

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Moments of fear led to a heroic rescue at a Jacksonville library on the Eastside.

Cheyla Scantling told Action News Jax, "It's not something I thought about. It was something that I had to do."

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She didn't have a moment to spare when 10-year-old Matthew George came to her barely breathing.

The fourth grader says, "One of the librarians gave me a lollipop and when I was playing on a computer and I swallowed it whole and it got stuck in my throat."

That's when Scantling came to the rescue.

"He was like, ‘I can't breathe Miss Cheyla,' so that's when I grabbed him did the Heimlich and the candy came up right there."

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It's a situation Scantling never imagined she'd be in, but with the proper training she was able to be Matthew's hero.

"He's like family really so I definitely was going to be there for him. I definitely was going to help him and do what I had to do."

And Matthew calls her just that, "She's my hero."