Kiski Valley youth football coach credited with saving baby's life
VANDERGRIFT, Pa. (KDKA) - A youth football coach is being called a hero. Kiski Valley youth football coach Kristian Clayton is credited with saving a baby's life.
Youth football camp is underway at Kennedy Park in Vandergrift. Monday afternoon, Clayton's team had just taken a break when he heard a mother's cry for help.
"We heard somebody saying 'help me,'" Clayton told KDKA.
He and his coaches looked around and realized it was coming from a home on Jackson Avenue. Coach Clayton ran over to see a mother and infant he knows, blood coming from the baby's mouth.
"He wasn't breathing. His body was kind of limp. You couldn't even hear a wheeze," Clayton recounted.
Using his Air Force medic background, Clayton started performing the child Heimlich maneuver, but he had no luck. The mother said the baby was playing with a cap, and Clayton knew he was choking.
"I just reacted. I can't even describe what was going on in my head at the moment," Clayton said.
Clayton stuck his finger down the child's throat and found the cap. He was able to get it out of there after a couple tries.
"Once I did that, he let out a cry and started gasping for breath," Clayton said.
If it wasn't for camp, there's no telling what could have happened. He said the park is normally empty and this is the busiest it usually gets each year.
"It was a blessing. Right place, right time," Clayton said.
Coach Clayton will be the first to tell you he's not a hero. He was just doing the right thing.
"I just did what I would hope someone would do for my child or any person," he said.
Clayton said paramedics came after the ordeal. Later that day, they saw the infant and mother back on the porch.
