Tracey Kaminski with her son Kaleb, 3, and Jo Thompson, who saved Kaleb's life. Photo / Doug Sherring
Tracey Kaminski with her son Kaleb, 3, and Jo Thompson, who saved Kaleb's life. Photo / Doug Sherring
The Angel of Whangaparaoa Rd has been found.
She has a blonde bob, a 10-year-old daughter and drives a white car.
But humble heroine Jo Thompson laughs at the rest of the description by Silverdale Mum Tracey Kaminski of the woman who saved her son Kaleb's life.
Kaminski appealed toHerald on Sunday readers last weekend for help finding her "angel". She said the mystery woman, aged in her 30s, had helped a choking 3-year-old Kaleb at a busy Whangaparaoa Peninsula intersection nine days ago.
"I was very happy to help and I'm glad it turned out well."
Thompson, who has a 30-year-old son, got a kick out of the description when a friend alerted her to the story.
"Isn't that lovely? I'm 51. She must've really been in shock."
Kaminski had stopped at the traffic lights when she realised Kaleb was choking on a lolly. Leaping from the car, she tried striking his back, putting her fingers down his throat and tipping him upside down.
Sitting in the car behind, Thompson at first thought Kaleb was vomiting.
"Then [Kaminski] just looked up at me. She had this look of complete despair on her face, so I just jumped out of the car. Total instinct took over.
A card Kaleb, 3, presented to Jo Thompson. Photo / Doug Sherring
"I was hitting him on the back and I did the Heimlich manoeuvre and he vomited the lolly up.
"I couldn't tell you what I was thinking, it was just instinct."
Kaminski described Thompson as "so confident", but the Hatfields Beach woman has no medical training. The colour co-ordinator for Generation Homes hasn't even done a first aid course, although she planned to do so now with a colleague.
She "didn't want a halo put on her head", but was pleased to be part of a good-news story, Thompson said.
"I was very happy to help and I'm glad it turned out well."
In a curious twist, a stranger had also performed the Heimlich manoeuvre on her son when he choked on a tangy fruit lolly about 25 years ago, Thompson said.
Thompson's daughter, who was with her Mum on a trip to choose a pet rabbit, was stunned by what she saw. "She said, 'Mum, you hit that boy really hard'."
But the 10-year-old also knew her Mum had done well.
"She was so proud of me, she was just beaming. She took the newspaper clipping to school and her teacher laminated it."
Kaminski and Kaleb added to the mementos, giving Thompson a necklace and a framed copy of Kaleb's thank you note when the trio were reunited this week, Thompson said.
"It was just gorgeous. It just finished it beautifully, a lovely ending to a lovely story."
