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<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>> SO I RAN UP TO MY TEACHER AND THEN I SAID I CHOKING. IT’S A LESSON. NO ONE EXPECTED. I WAS SCARED AND NERVOUS LIKE BEN AND NOT LIKE COLOR HAPPENING. DOES SOMETHING AS ORDINARY AS A BOTTLE CAP NEARLY TOOK A CHILD’S LIFE IN HIS CLASSROOM. I I MEAN, I ON THE SLATE JUST HAD TO SPRING INTO ACTION. ONLY GULF COAST NEWS REPORTER JAYLAND AARON IS HEARING FROM THE TEACHER WHOSE QUICK THINKING SAVED TO 7 YEAR-OLD FROM CHOKING. >> SO I WAS. >> I WAS TAKEN THIS PENDING TESTS AND I WAS GOING TO DRINK MORE WATER AND MY WATER THAT HAPPENS LOOSE AND I DRUNK AND THE WATER PUSH IT DOWN. OASIS ELEMENTARY NORTH SECOND GRADER THEODORE CASTING YET TELLS ME HE WAS SO SCARED WHEN HE ACCIDENTALLY SWALLOWED A CAP. >> WHILE DRINKING WATER, HE WAS CHOKING ON A BOTTLE CAP AND HE COULDN’T BREATHE. A THEODORE RAN UP TO HIS TEACHER, MISS MEDICO WERE SHE KNEW WHAT TO DO TO SAVE HIS LIFE. HE WAS STILL HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING. SO I DID THE HEIMLICH AND I WAS BANGING ON HIS BACK. >> AND, YOU KNOW, THE OTHER TEACHER ACROSS THE WAY SHE’S LIKE, IT’S OUT. IT’S OUTSIDE AND SEE IT ACTUALLY COME OUT OF HIS SO IT WAS OUT ON THE FLOOR AFTER IT HAPPENED, HUGGED ME. HE’S MEDICAID, SAVE MY LIFE. JACQUELINE MEDICO SAYS IN HER 6 YEARS TEACHING AT THE SCHOOL, SHE HAS NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS. WE ARE STARTING OUR SPELLING HAS SUMMARILY A COUPLE QUESTIONS. I KNEW ABOUT 5 OR 6 QUESTIONS AND AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, YOU KNOW, HE GETS UP AND COMES UP TO ME AND HE’S LIKE GOING LIKE AND LIKE, YOU KNOW, GASPING FOR AIR. AND AFTER HIS EXPERIENCE DURING HIS SPELLING TEST, I ASKED HIM HOW MUCH HE LIKES THE SUBJECT NOW. VERY LITTLE THEO’S PARENTS ARE INCREDIBLY THANKFUL FOR THE TRAINING AND QUICK RESPONSE FROM MS MEDICO AND FOR THEO. WELL, HE SHOWS HIS APPRECIATION EVERY DAY ACE GIVING A HUG LIKE EVERY ON EVERY SINGLE DAY. SINCE HE’S BEEN BACK IN JUST YOU KNOW, HE KNOWS THAT I HAVE HIS BACK AND THEN HOW NEVER FORGOT ME. AND I WON’T FORGET HIM EITHER. WHAT’S YOUR BIG MESSAGE OF HER SAVING YOU ANY BIG? THANK YOU.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cape Coral teacher performs Heimlich to save choking second-grader<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tUpdated: 6:45 PM EDT Apr 20, 2026\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tEditorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\tA second-grader at Oasis Elementary North in Cape Coral accidentally swallowed a bottle cap while drinking water during a spelling test, leading his teacher to perform the Heimlich maneuver and save his life. “So I was taking the spelling test, and when I was going to drink more water, the cap was loose, and I drank it in. The water pushed it down,” Theodore Castaneda said. Theodore said he was scared when he realized he was choking and couldn\u2019t breathe. He ran to his teacher, Jaclyn Medico, who quickly stepped in to help. “He was still having trouble breathing. So I did the Heimlich, and I was banging on his back. And, you know, the other teacher across the way, she’s like, ‘It’s out, it’s out.’ Because I didn’t see it actually come out of his mouth. So it was out on the floor, and, after it happened, he hugged me. He’s like, ‘You saved my life,'” Medico said. Medico, who has been teaching at the school for six years, said she had never experienced anything like this before. “We were starting our spelling test, where only a couple of questions, and we were about five or six questions in, and all of a sudden, you know, he gets up and comes up to me, and he’s like going like this and like, you know, gasping for air,” Medico said. After the incident, Theodore admitted his enthusiasm for spelling has waned. “Very little,” he said when asked how much he likes the subject now. Theodore\u2019s parents expressed their gratitude for Medico\u2019s training and quick response. Theodore himself has been showing his appreciation daily. “He’s giving me a hug, like, every single day since he’s been back. And just, you know, he knows that I have his back,” Medico said. “And he’ll never forget me, and I won’t forget him either.” When asked what message he had for his teacher, Theodore smiled and said, “A big thank you.”DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n A second-grader at Oasis Elementary North in Cape Coral accidentally swallowed a bottle cap while drinking water during a spelling test, leading his teacher to perform the Heimlich maneuver and save his life. <\/p>\n “So I was taking the spelling test, and when I was going to drink more water, the cap was loose, and I drank it in. The water pushed it down,” Theodore Castaneda said. <\/p>\n Theodore said he was scared when he realized he was choking and couldn\u2019t breathe. He ran to his teacher, Jaclyn Medico, who quickly stepped in to help. <\/p>\n “He was still having trouble breathing. So I did the Heimlich, and I was banging on his back. And, you know, the other teacher across the way, she’s like, ‘It’s out, it’s out.’ Because I didn’t see it actually come out of his mouth. So it was out on the floor, and, after it happened, he hugged me. He’s like, ‘You saved my life,'” Medico said. <\/p>\n Medico, who has been teaching at the school for six years, said she had never experienced anything like this before. <\/p>\n “We were starting our spelling test, where only a couple of questions, and we were about five or six questions in, and all of a sudden, you know, he gets up and comes up to me, and he’s like going like this and like, you know, gasping for air,” Medico said. <\/p>\n After the incident, Theodore admitted his enthusiasm for spelling has waned. <\/p>\n “Very little,” he said when asked how much he likes the subject now. <\/p>\n Theodore\u2019s parents expressed their gratitude for Medico\u2019s training and quick response. Theodore himself has been showing his appreciation daily. <\/p>\n “He’s giving me a hug, like, every single day since he’s been back. And just, you know, he knows that I have his back,” Medico said. “And he’ll never forget me, and I won’t forget him either.” <\/p>\n When asked what message he had for his teacher, Theodore smiled and said, “A big thank you.”<\/p>\n DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":">> SO I RAN UP TO MY TEACHER AND THEN I SAID I CHOKING. IT’S A LESSON. NO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[106106,209,211,210,19927,104,1179,106104,106105,106108,213,80986,106103,81576,106110,106109,197,2956,7331,106107,6343,4103,70404,221],"class_list":["post-239609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-bottle-cap","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-coral-teacher","tag-entertainment","tag-gulf-coast-news-app","tag-heimlich","tag-heimlich-maneuver","tag-jaclyn-medico","tag-late-news","tag-life-saving","tag-oasis-elementary-north","tag-second-grade","tag-second-grader","tag-spelling-test","tag-sport","tag-student","tag-teacher","tag-theodore-castaneda","tag-training","tag-water","tag-water-bottle","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}