By JOHN
THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com
Tina Eden
remebers the feeling of absolute panic.
She was sitting
in her classroom at Landmark Christian School during a planning period
when she started choking.
"I remember
taking a bite of a sandwich and a bite of a Dorito and not being able
to breathe," she said.
As the room
started fading to black, Eden felt pressure on her back and immediately
started coughing up the blockage.
Luckily,
her son, fifth grader Jimmy Eden, was in her clasroom and performed
the Heimlich maneuver.
Tina Eden,
who teaches elementary art at the school, believes her son was placed
in that classroom for a reason.
"He
had been sick that week, but got up that morning to go to school. He
started getting sick again, so I just brought him into my classroom
with me," she said.
Eden is convinced
that she would have died if her son had not been in in the room.
"There
was not another class scheduled for another 50 minutes," she said.
For his efforts,
Jason Eden has been honored for heroism and valor.
He was presented
with a plaque by Fulton County Paramedic/firefighter Tom Bohn during
a chapel gathering at the school.
Bohn demonstrated
the lifesaving maneuver to the students after presenting the award to
Jimmy and, since that time, all faculty and staff at Landmark have updated
their CPR certifications as a precautionary measure.
The plaque
Jimmy received was donated by John Gossett from Iron Horse Graphics
in Fairburn. The inscription read, "Not everyone is touched by
God and blessed with the awesome task of helping Him rescue, in time
of peril, one of His souls. This blessing is reserved for a chosen few
and in this case is twofold as the soul in peril was not only that of
Jimmy's teacher but was also that of his loving mother."
Jimmy and
his mother and sister live in Peachtree City.