Those of us who like to indulge in an alcoholic beverage or two while at the ballpark probably think of the guy walking around with the blue tub at his waist as “the beer guy.” In most cases, we’re right. The beer guy is another respectable individual trying to make a living. You want beers, and it is the beer guy’s job to provide them for you.
Emmanuel Marlow, however, is more than just a face in the crowd. For one young boy and his family, Marlow is a hero. On Monday, A Washington Post reader emailed the story of how the beer vendor saved a boy’s life during a recent Nationals game.
Dan, I was at the game on Thursday afternoon in sec. 116. Shortly after the game began, a young man a few seats away started choking on some food he had eaten. Immediately, the man who was selling beer and water in our section put down his blue container and began to perform the Heimlich maneuver. While undertaking this procedure he remained calm and ensured the boy’s frantic mother that it was going to be alright.
After a short period, he was successful and the food was dislodged. After another employee arrived to help, he calmly picked up his blue container and went back to work…..I think this hero should be commended and rewarded by the Nats organization.
When he’s not serving beer at Nationals Park, Marlow is caring for patients with Parkinson’s. He once took a CPR class thinking it may be helpful in every day situations, and when he saw a boy gasping for air in the stands at a game it turned out he was right. The boy was choking on a piece of chicken, which fortunately became dislodged from his throat after Marlow performed the Heimlich maneuver.
“I guess they never had experienced a first-aid situation,” Marlow said of the fans sitting in the boy’s section who appeared to be panicking. “[The boy] was actually going to a new color. I knew I needed to jump in and do it. There was no time for hesitation. It had to be done right then and there.”
Marlow said the boy’s mother spent 10 minutes hugging him and crying after he saved her son. He said he was just glad he knew what to do and that the mother does not have to grieve over a lost child. I think I speak for all of us when I say someone should buy the beer guy a beer after his heroic act. Fortunately for the common man, people like Marlow are out there to make the world a safer place.
H/T to Hardball Talk for the story.
