Most of us freeze when we see someone in a life-threatening situation. It takes a lot of courage and strength to jump into action and help someone who is in immediate danger. God has given us this gift of life and we must not only cherish our own lives but also do what we can to help each other. No matter how difficult or harsh the situation may be, we must not look away from the suffering of another human.

Sarah Glass, a 45-year-old midwife from New Zealand, teaches us this very lesson in an incident she recently had with her boyfriend. Glass and her boyfriend Izak Bester were having a barbecue together with friends when suddenly Izak found himself choking on a piece of meat. The people around him tried to help and used various methods to try and save him. They tried the Heimlich, CPR, and mouth to mouth resuscitation, but nothing worked. “The piece of steak had moved, so he was now turning a very nasty shade of purple and he was dying in front of us,” Sarah remembers. Unable to watch her boyfriend die in front of her, she grabbed a knife and tried to save his life.

At that very moment, she performed an on-the-spot tracheotomy on her boyfriend. She made a cut right under his Adam’s apple in order to open up his windpipe. She had studied this medical procedure back in her 20s. Izak later spent a week in the hospital recovering but was alive and in stable condition. Even though Glass doesn’t call herself a hero, she has been one in Izak’s life. Her concern for her boyfriend and her presence of mind helped her save his life.

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