Anonymous customer comes to the rescue after man chokes at Hilton Head restaurant
Joni Bosse was having lunch with her sister and brother-in-law at Coast on Hilton Head Monday when a crisis unfolded at their table.
The trio had gathered for an early birthday celebration lunch. Bosse recently moved to Hilton Head with her husband after vacationing here for 20 years, and her sister and brother-in-law, who live in Michigan, have been vacationing on the island for 45 years. It was a beautiful day to eat outdoors at one of their favorite restaurants, even though it was a bit windy.
They shared a calamari appetizer — “The best calamari I’d ever had,” Bosse said — and started on their entrees, a salad with salmon for her, lobster rolls for her sister, whose birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day, and scallops for her brother-in-law.
Then Bosse’s brother-in-law, who asked not to be named in this story, got a piece of food lodged in his throat and could not breathe. He started waving his hands to get their attention, Bosse said.
“That was one of the scariest events of our life,” Bosse said. “It felt like it lasted an hour, but it was really probably only a few minutes.”
The two women futilely tried to help, and servers Tony Carlin and Kenzie Murphy did too. Another customer a couple of tables away ultimately saved the life of the 90-year-old Army veteran and retired television commercial producer and director.
That customer jumped up and performed the Heimlich maneuver when he saw the man in distress.
Bosse said her brother-in-law told her it had felt like he was drowning. All he could do was offer hand signals.
“I prayed to God. I thought we were going to lose him,” Bosse said. “I was just sobbing. I was so emotionally moved.”
Her brother-in-law shook his rescuer’s hand, and the family thanked him.
“He was very humble about it,” Bosse said of the man who’d turned a would-be tragedy into a day to celebrate life. He told her he simply did the best he could.
With the focus on making sure Bosse’s brother-in-law was OK, the family’s hero slipped away without anyone finding out his name. Bosse said she wanted to buy his lunch, but he had already paid and left.
“We thanked him in person, but it doesn’t seem like enough when you saved someone’s life,” she said.
She hopes the man realizes how grateful they are, and she’s thankful the windy day caused them to move closer to the building, within sight of his table.
Sean Calhoun, general manager at Coast in Sea Pines Beach Club, said the man had come into the restaurant without a reservation, so there is no way to identify him.
Thoughts of what might have happened made for a restless night for Bosse. On Tuesday morning, she asked her chiropractor to teach her how to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
“Now I know what to do,” she said. “I came home and taught my sister and my husband, too.”
