Red Cross Volunteer Saves Daughter's Life With Heimlich

Kenny Tulloch had performed countless disaster responses and trained for every emergency imaginable, but he never expected to use the Heimlich maneuver on someone he calls his daughter.

Last October, the Burlington Red Cross volunteer was traveling through Cherokee, North Carolina with his fiancée Angela Key and Haley, a young woman the couple considers their daughter. Haley was eating taffy when suddenly she couldn't speak or breathe.

"She was saying 'I need some water,' and then she couldn't say anything," Key remembers. She turned to Tulloch and shouted that Haley was choking.

Tulloch's 24 years of training took over instantly. After three Heimlich maneuvers, the taffy dislodged and Haley could breathe again. She ran to him crying and thanked the man she calls "Daddy."

"My training kicked in. I did what I needed to do," Tulloch said simply.

It was the first time in his entire career that Tulloch had ever performed the Heimlich on someone who was choking. The 15-year volunteer firefighter turned EMT who worked with Duke Life Flight has been a full-time Red Cross volunteer since 2013.

Just months before saving Haley, Tulloch had responded to about 30 homes during flooding from Tropical Storm Chantal. Parts of Alamance County received nearly a foot of rain, with the Haw River cresting near flood records.

Sunny's Take

Tulloch doesn't consider himself a hero for saving Haley's life. His focus is on something bigger: making sure other people have the skills to act when emergencies strike.

"Learn it because one day it could be you or someone else next to you," he says. The American Red Cross offers classes teaching the Heimlich, CPR, AED use, and other critical first aid measures to anyone who wants to be prepared.

The local American Red Cross chapter named Tulloch this year's Salute to Heroes award winner in the mission hero category. He was honored at a ceremony in High Point on September 17, celebrating not just one life saved, but 24 years of service to his community.

His message is clear: the skills to save a life are available to everyone who's willing to learn them.