I'd spent the day with my family - my partner, Didem, my mum, Christine, my brother, Alex, his partner, and my sister, Laurie - and we'd all gone out for dinner at one of our favourite steak restaurants in London.
I was in the middle of telling a story when I noticed a woman at the table next to us stand up. At first, I didn't think much of it and carried on eating. But then my mum and partner realised something wasn't right. The woman was clutching at her throat. She wasn't coughing or speaking - she was choking.
A waitress rushed over and began giving her abdominal thrusts, but because there was such a big height difference between them, she was struggling to do them effectively.
I stepped in to help. About a year earlier, I'd completed a first aid course through my work as a marine engineer. One of the biggest lessons that stayed with me was that people often forget to start with back blows before moving on to abdominal thrusts – thanks to Mrs Doubtfire! [The film only depicts abdominal thrusts.]
I gave her five firm back blows using the heel of my hand between her shoulder blades. When the back blows didn't dislodge the obstruction, I moved on to abdominal thrusts. Thankfully, they worked. A piece of steak flew out of her mouth, and she was finally able to breathe again.
She was in complete shock. She'd been unable to breathe for what felt like almost a minute.
Her friend took her to the bathroom while she recovered. When she returned, she thanked me for saving her life.
Looking back, the whole experience feels surreal. Because I knew first aid, I was able to just get on and do what needed to be done. But afterwards it was shocking to think I only had minutes to get the blockage cleared and horrible to consider what might have happened if no-one had been able to help her.
It's impossible to know what would have happened if I hadn't been there. I'd like to think someone else would have stepped in, but in situations like that, every second counts.
I am a firm believer that everyone should have first aid training. I hope I never have to use those skills again, but you never know when someone's life could depend on you knowing what to do.
