Ear ventilation

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Quick thinking by Tarleton students saves boy’s life

By MEGHAN DONALD

Staff Writer

meghan.donald@...

Published: Friday, April 3, 2009 9:24 AM CDT

Entz has two guardian angels.

The one-year old toddler is now using his lungs to pump the oxygen he needs to

play with his brothers and sister, but last month, those same lungs nearly

failed him.

According to ’s mother, , the tyke found some popcorn kernels while

she was feeding her newborn on the sofa. The popcorn kernels soon ended up where

most things do when toddlers find them and began to cough.

“He wasn’t choking yet, he was just coughing. I figured he had something

stuck in his throat, so I went next door to use the neighbor’s phone. I called

my husband to tell him to come home from work and watch the other kids while I

took to the hospital,†Entz said.

As Entz was walking the short distance back to her home, her five-year-old

daughter ran out to tell her that was not breathing. Entz entered her

kitchen to find her son blue and unresponsive.

“I ran outside with him in my arms, I was yelling for help because we didn’t

have a phone or car,†explained Entz.

And help was readily available. Two young men, who attend Tarleton State

University, were at home that morning and heard the young mother’s cries for

help.

As they opened their door, they saw Entz cradling her son’s limp body. Clayton

Landua and his roommate Logan Tucker rushed to help Entz and her son. Clayton

immediately began to pat the child’s back to dislodge the kernel while Logan

used his cell phone to call 911 and direct the ambulance to the area.

“I told the mom (Entz) to sit down and I took the baby. I massaged his throat

and patted his back to try and get him to cough up the kernel. I also breathed

in his ear, in hopes that he would remember to breathe,†said Landua.

While Landua was tending to the boy, Tucker ran into his neighbor’s home to

watch the four children still inside.

“I was so worried about the little boy, but the other children really needed

someone to look after them, too,†Tucker said.

After a little encouragement from Landua, began to breathe again and soon

after, the ambulance arrived and transported the boy to the hospital. Once

was admitted, the doctors discovered that his right lung had collapsed. He was

then taken to Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth.

It took doctors at Cook about 25 minutes to remove the kernel from ’s

lung.

“The doctors came out and handed me the popcorn kernel and told me that he

() was going to be ok,†Entz said.

’s lung re-inflated as soon as the kernel was removed and he is back to

running and playing outside.

Entz knows, however, that things could have turned out differently.