A mom almost choked to death after gorging on chocolate swiss rolls while sleepwalking - only to be saved by her "hero" grandma who performed CPR.
Christian Owens had started sleepwalking after taking medication for postpartum anxiety following the birth of her daughter, but soon found she even began eating during her sleep . The 41-year-old devoured a whole box of swiss roll cakes while in this dream state before falling back to sleep but, after not chewing them properly, inhaled a piece that " suffocated " her.
Four hours later Elida Owens awoke and went to check on her granddaughter when she discovered her on the bed with blue lips, reportedly just minutes away from death.
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The grandma, who was a nurse when she was younger, said her 'medical training kicked in' as she placed Christian on the floor before conducting life-saving CPR. Despite the 90-year-old being more than seven stone lighter than 5ft 8in Christian, the 5ft 'superhuman' grandma still managed to break three of Christian's ribs.
The mom-of-five was able to make a full recovery and calls her grandma her 'hero' who she 'can't thank enough' for her quick actions. Christian, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, US, said: "Me and my 15-month-old daughter were living with my grandmother.
"I was actually suffering with postpartum anxiety so the doctors had me on medication. The medication would make me sleepy and I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I wouldn't be aware that I was awake."
"Sometimes I'd start eating. It was a weird side effect of the medication but apparently, it's pretty common. I had a box of these little swiss cake rolls by my bed that I'd bought that day and I woke up and ate them all. I guess I didn't chew them as I was supposed to and I fell asleep on my back with a bunch in my mouth."
"I inhaled them and it aspirated into my lungs and it caused my lungs to not be able to push out the carbon dioxide, like I was getting in oxygen but couldn't push out carbon dioxide. It's like it went down the wrong pipe. It went into my lungs instead of my stomach."
"I basically suffocated and it caused my heart to stop. My grandmother usually didn't wake up until about 10 o'clock in the morning, but this morning she woke up at seven."
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"She came into my room and she saw me on the bed and my lips were blue. She knew something was wrong so she got on the phone and called emergency services. She pulled me off my bed and onto the floor and did CPR on me for six minutes until the emergency services got there."
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"She broke three of my ribs."
Christian, who works as a billing support specialist for a windshield replacement company, says she didn't know any of it had happened and only remembers waking up in the ICU. The mum was in hospital for two weeks, spending one week on life support, four days in the ICU and a final three on a normal ward, however her full recovery took almost two years.
Now six years later, Christian's is engaged to Laura Dwyer and they parent five children together, including Christian's 7-year-old daughter who was there the night she nearly suffocated.
Christian said: "I had a little bit of brain damage to my short term memory, so it made it hard to remember things and memorise things but other than that I made a full recovery.
"It was all because of my grandmother. When they told me what happened, it was a big shock. My grandmother had to witness that and go through that. She did CPR on me in front of my daughter."
"I was so incredibly grateful. My grandparents basically raised me and my grandmother has always been my hero, but that took it to another level. I think the biggest thing people said online is that it was amazing that she was 84 and able to do that. My grandmother's a small woman and I'm not a small girl."
"The doctor chuckled too and he was like 'your grandmother went superhuman on you, she broke your ribs to save your life'."
Christian had moved in with Elida at the time to help take care of her after her grandfather had a stroke and was in a nursing home. Originally born in Colombia, South America, Elida was raised by nuns but moved to Los Angeles, California, US, aged 18 where she went to nursing school and first learnt CPR.
The "superhuman" grandma went on to be a nurse and dental hygienist for 50 years and says her life-saving medical training never left her.
Christian said: "She told me that [medical] training never goes away. I'm so fortunate because even well-qualified people sometimes struggle to do CPR on a family member in that kind of situation but she said her medical training just took over. She's definitely my hero, that's for sure."
"Everything is now great. My grandmother just turned 90. She is now living with my aunt, her daughter, but we still keep in touch. She's perfectly healthy, she's probably healthier than me. My grandmother is getting the recognition she deserves."
"I wanted to give her the recognition. I can't do enough to thank her for that. I'm so proud of her and she's my hero and I want everyone to know that."
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