Family Searches for Stranger Who Saved Choking 2-Year-Old at Suburban Subway

When 2-year-old Noah Graham began choking on a chip while dining at a suburban Subway restaurant earlier this week, it was a stranger that rushed to his aid. Now, the young boy’s mother is hoping to find the man who saved her son’s life and thank him.

The Graham family was eating dinner at an Alsip subway Tuesday night when Noah began to choke on a dorito.

“I could see that he wasn’t breathing and I started to panic,” said his mother Mary Graham. “And I couldn’t get him out of the stroller fast enough.”

Noah’s 9-year-old sister ran to get help.

“I said, ‘My mom needs help and my baby brother’s choking,’” the young girl said.

That’s when a stranger came to the rescue, caught on surveillance cameras as he saved the toddler’s life.

“He just took my son out of that stroller as fast as he could and he bent him over his knee and he applied pressure to his belly and started patting on his back really hard until the chips came out,” Graham said.

Mary Graham rushed her son off to the restroom, but when she came back, the stranger was gone.

“He deserves a proper thank you and he deserves much more than I gave him,” Graham said.

The Subway store’s manager, Grishma Patel, was working at the time the incident happened.

“It's really nice to see that there is a nice human being out there, without any selfishness they are ready to save someone's life,” Patel said. 

Graham hopes her son’s hero, or someone who knows him, might come forward. 

“Let me tell you thank you, let me give you a hug, let me show you my son that he's still here because of you,” she said. 

Graham said the man was wearing a black shirt and gray dress pants that were dirtied while he helped her son. In addition to saying thank you, she’d also like to pay his dry cleaning bill.

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