Teacher Saves Life Of 10-Year-Old Autistic Boy

ISLIP TERRACE, NY — The life of a 10-year-old boy was saved this week thanks to the life-saving efforts of his teachers.

Jack Borger, a student at Ruth C. Kinney Elementary School in Islip Terrace, was diagnosed was severe autism at age 2, according to his mother, Karen Borger. He is completely non-verbal and has a one-to-one aide in class.

On Monday, Jack ended up putting too much food in his mouth at snacktime and his aide, Patti Graydon, noticed he could not breathe and his eyes were tearing. While Jack communicates with his family by typing, he has not yet begun to do this at school so he could not tell his teacher or aide what was happening.

Luckily, Graydon quickly jumped into action and performed the Heimlich Maneuver on him which dislodge the food from his airway.

After that, the school nurse ran into the classroom to check on Jack and make sure Jack was functioning normally. Karen had just returned home from a walk when she got the call.

"It was my birthday and 13th anniversary. I got the call from his school nurse, Dayna that Jack had choked and stopped breathing but seemed to be responsive," she told Patch. "They wanted to put him in an ambulance but with him having special needs, I was afraid at how he would respond. I was worried he would be frightened since he couldn’t communicate, I felt I needed to be there and take him."

She called her husband and both arrived at the school within minutes, where they were met by the principal, Janet Jones, who took them to the nurse.

"His aide had her arm around him and Jack looked completely shocked but calm snuggled up against her," Karen said. "The staff told us what happened and calmed us down."

The family then took Jack to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip where Jack was cleared to go home just a few hours later.

"The staff in the pediatric ER were amazing with my son, explaining everything to him and keeping him very calm," she said. "What could’ve been the worst day of our lives turned out to be a blessing because of all of these incredible heroes. Our family is eternally grateful."

Karen shared her son's story on social media, receiving an outpouring of support from the community.

"I often post about Jack’s journey through autism over the past 8 years. As a result, Jack has a following of many people," she said. "They follow his story and cheer on all of his little achievements, pray for him through his challenges and offer us lots of support."