A Manatee County elementary school teacher is being called a hero after she saved a student's life.
Sheryl Wesolowski, who teaches fourth and fifth grades at Abel Elementary School in Sarasota, went into rescue mode when one of her students had an emergency in the school cafeteria.
“I don’t look at myself as a hero, I just did what I had to do and needed to do,” she said.
While eating a cupcake, 9-year-old Kazzy began choking and couldn’t breathe.
“I got it stuck in my throat and I could not breathe at all,” Kazzy said. “Instead of panicking, I went straight to the teacher.”
That’s when Wesolowski immediately jumped up to help.
“She came up to me and was like, 'I can’t breathe; I can’t breathe,' ” Wesolowski said. “I stood up and did Heimlich on her. It took three times and the cupcake finally came out.”
Wesolowski was just certified in CPR and learned how to properly give the Heimlich Maneuver. She said she decided to take the course after the school district offered it to her and other teachers for free.
“Manatee County School District offered the CPR course last year and I decided to take it as a refresher course,” Wesolowski said. “Thank goodness I did.”
Even more thankful is Kazzy’s mother, Jessica Napoli.
“I was just very, very relieved,” Napoli said. “She knew what she was doing, she knew how to do it, and because of that, my daughter is still here.”
It was a life-saving experience Napoli and her daughter will never forget, and a valuable CPR lesson Wesolowski hopes other teachers will learn from and take advantage of.
Manatee Technical Institute offers a CPR training course once a month. Every school in the Manatee County School District gets free courses for five teachers or staff members.
School board employees who wish to take the class on their own can do so for a reduced rate of $25.