Yaxley husband receives national honour for saving wife from choking to death

Dominic Parkin was in the kitchen with his wife, Joanne, and their three-year-old son on 22 April this year.

Their little boy then said something which made him laugh and she then began to choke on some food which was in her mouth at the time and got lodged in her wind pipe.

Dominic immediately rushed to her aid and administered an abdominal thrust to try and dislodge the food. However, his first effort did not succeed.

Then he did a second thrust though and this worked enabling Mrs Parkin to breathe normally again.

Now he has been awarded a Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate for saving her life and he has also won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, Secretary of the Society.

“This must have been a terrifying incident for all concerned,” he said.

“Many people would have panicked faced with such a situation but Mr Parkin kept calm and did everything right. Once the food was dislodged Mrs Parkin went on to make an immediate recovery and did not need medical treatment. Mr Parkin richly deserves the award he is to receive.”

The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back nearly 250 years. Other than awards made by the Crown it is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.

It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.

However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.

The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 90,000 cases and made over 220,000 awards. The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.