Quick thinking and brave actions of a Brookfield 7th grader Jenna Omar, helped save her best friend and classmate, Luciana Kolat's life. Omar saw Kolat choking and sprang into action as she remembered the life saving techniques she was taught at home.

On Friday, Sept. 22 during lunch is when Kolat began choking on her breaded shrimp lunch.  As she tried to pull it out of her mouth, she started gaging, turning red and blue before signaling to her friends that she was choking. 

"I couldn't get it out. It was just lodged in my throat, all of the shrimp," Kolat said. 

Omar recognized all the signs Kolat displayed and bolted over to help her friend. She positioned Kolat over a trashcan, patted her back to dislodge the food, and called for help before giving Kolat one life-saving push from the back using the Heimlich maneuver.

It was the CPR and Heimlich maneuver training she learned from her mother that helped Kolat breathe again. Training that Omar once thought of as useless.

"At first I thought, 'OK it's really never going to come in handy, like when would I need to do it?,' but thankfully she taught me because it did come in handy and saved Luciana," Omar told 21 News. 

Both girls are proud and happy to have each other and continue their journey as best friends.

Brookfield Middle School Principal, Craig Boles said this incident is a teachable moment to promote basic life-saving techniques to students.

"Knowing the signs when someone is in distress [is] something we are going to have to look into moving forward," Boles said.