What started out as a routine dinner at a local Dairy Queen quickly turned into a life or death situation for a Bloomington man.

76 year old Douglas Stubblefield stopped into the Bloomington Dairy Queen, as he often does, for dinner on the evening of June 30th. He ordered his regular meal of steak fingers and sat down to eat. He took one bite and immediately started choking.

"I thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe," Stubblefield said. "I knew I was turning blue and purple and looking like a Smurf."

Stubblefield managed to get the attention of a Dairy Queen employee and motioned to her that be was choking. The worker, 19-year-old Beatrice Valdez, jumped into action and immediately began trying to Heimlich Stubblefield in an attempt to dislodge the food cutting off his oxygen. However, Valdez wasn't strong enough.

Seconds later, 20 year old Victoria native Jaime Zamora jumped up and ran across the restaurant and took over for Valdez. After a few attempts, Zamora was able to dislodge the food and Stubblefield, who had begun turning blue at this point, was able to breath again.

"If something like that were to happen to my dad or my grandpa, I'd want someone to step in and help him," Zamora said.

Zamora has never been in a situation of this kind, and said he didn't know how to correctly do the Heimlich maneuver.

A nurse who was there that night advised Zamora while he pressed on Stubblefield's sternum.

Stubblefield called Zamora his guardian angel. "If he wasn't there that day, at that time, I would've been dead," he said. "I owe him my life, and I can't ever thank him enough for what he did that night."

So hats off to you Mr. Zamora. A real life hero right here in Victoria.

::Story courtesy of the Victoria Advocate::

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