An 8-year-old Montreal-area boy owes his life to his daycamp monitor who intervened after he started choking.

William Meunier was at his St-Jean-sur-Richelieu day camp earlier this week when he took a swig from his water bottle during lunch. He had poked a hole in the cap so the water could squirt out. But the cap came off and he swallowed it, the cap getting caught in his windpipe.

His mother Valérie Jacques said she was panicked and floored when she heard the story.

"William turned a shade of blue-grey, his eyes were bugging out, blood trickling from his mouth. He basically stopped breathing," Jacques told CJAD News.

Audrey-Ann Martin to the rescue, the 18-year-old monitor quickly performing the Heimlich Manoeuvre and dislodging the cap after five attempts during a very tense minute. He started breathing normally again but was taken to hospital as a precaution.

She said it was the first time she had to put her First Aid skills to work. Every summer, all 120 daycamp monitors and supervisors in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu receive such training. 

Jacques said it should be the norm for all day camp counsellors and others who work with children, even a prerequisite.

"Definitely, it could save other lives."

After getting flowers from the grateful family, Martin took a well-deserved day off today.

Photo: Flickr