Webelo Scout's big squeeze dislodges Tootsie Roll from little brother's windpipe

Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Drake Gibbert, 4, gives his 10-year-old brother, Alex Whitehouse, a hug at their home in Turner on Friday. Whitehouse saved his brother with the Heimlich maneuver after a piece of candy got lodged in Gibbert's throat.  

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- dslover/Sun Journal

TURNER — Webelo Scout Alex Whitehouse earned his Readyman pin a year ago, showing he'd mastered some basic lifesaving skills.

Thursday was the first chance he had to put them to use.

Alex, 10, and his two younger brothers were upstairs in their Parish Hill Road home, getting ready for bed. Brother Damian Bailey, 8, had gone to his own room. Brother Drake Gibbert, 4, had sneaked a piece Tootsie Roll from the family's Halloween stash and was in Alex' bedroom, happily jumping on Alex's bed.

"I told him to stop," Alex said. "I'd told him that before, that I didn't want him jumping on my bed."

He should've listened. Drake fell off the bed and the candy lodged in his throat.

"He started making this sound, like he was going to hurl," Alex said.

Ever the scout, Alex grabbed him, pushed his head down and hugged him in the Heimlich maneuver, just like his Webelos handbook had taught him. The candy popped loose, and Drake began crying.

"He was real mad, because he didn't get to finish the Tootsie Roll," Alex said.

Mother Michelle Gibbert said she was downstairs checking her e-mail when boys came down together, Alex leading his crying brother. 

"It happened really quickly, but Alex did just the right thing," she said. "That's what I'm most proud of. He kept his head about him."

Gibbert, the Cub Master for her son's Pack 187 in Turner, said she was glad he'd had the training.

"I mean, that's what it's there for, to give them some life lessons they wouldn't get otherwise," Gibbert said. Alex has been matter-of-fact about his exploits Thursday night.

"And Drake tells people that Alex saved him," Gibbert said. "I told my folks that they should be pretty proud of Alex, because he did a big thing for his brother."

staylor@sunjournal.com