On the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 17, Brownwood High School junior Blake Hutchins happened to be in the right place at the right time, as far as both he and senior Durham Brown are concerned, to prevent a potential tragedy.

In the halls of Brownwood High School between classes, Brown experienced an unimaginable incident.

“I was walking to my sixth grade class, and I was chewing on a water bottle cap, and I just sucked in and it got stuck in my throat,” Brown said. “I froze. There was no one in the hallway except for the people in front of me, so I turned around and Blake was there.”

Hutchins recalled his thoughts as he approached Brown.

“I didn’t know what was happening at first,” Hutchins said. “I thought maybe he was about to throw up. He kept motioning to his throat and motioned for me to do the Heimlich maneuver on him.”

As was Brown desperately trying to breathe, he recalled, “I was just really scared. I was thinking this can’t be the way I die, here in school.”

Once aware of the situation, Hutchins immediately took action.

“It was pure reaction, pure adrenaline, and I performed the Heimlich as best as I possibly could,” Hutchins said. “I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t trained, I wasn’t certified, I had not done that before.”

Brown, who was familiar with CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, aided Hutchins in his efforts to pry the bottle cap from Brown’s throat.

“When he grabbed on my stomach, I put his hands where they needed to be and kind of jumped into him,” Brown said. “It made enough room for me to cough really hard and it just popped out.”

When the incident was over, both students went about their day until Brown later reported what had happened to Assistant Principal Brian Harris.

“I felt like I had to tell somebody, it was a scary moment,” Brown said. “I couldn’t tell my parents because we can’t use our phones in school. So I told Principal Harris after my seventh period class and he saw it on the security camera.”

When asked if he feels Hutchins saved his life in that moment a week ago, Brown replied, “I do, I really do.”

Hutchins added, “I feel like I played a part in that. I feel like it was all God’s timing. I was told, and I agree, that I was the hands and feet of Jesus during that. I was not certified, trained or really knowing what I was doing, but I felt honored to be the person behind and I’m glad I reacted and acted. I hesitated for a second, but I did react and did what I needed to do. I’m just glad I was there at the right time.”

Brown and Hutchins said this incident has formed a bond that will forever link them.

“We’re in the same youth group so we’ve talked a little bit, but he’s in the grade below so we hadn’t done that much stuff together,” Brown said, while Hutchins added, “We’ve talked to people about it and each other about it since it’s happened.”

Brown, who learned how to perform the Heimlich maneuver in Angela Bishop’s class, said, “My teacher, the one that taught me how to do it, is really proud of us. And I bet she trusts him now to go to others and show them how.”

Hutchins added, “Even though I was not trained or certified to do that, people that do know or that are going to learn that and feel like it might not be that important, or that I’ll ever use this, there are circumstances where you will need this so it’s very important to know.”

Reflecting on the whole incident, and the suddenness in which it occurred, Brown said, “I want to thank God, and I want to tell people do not chew on bottle caps. I’ve chewed on them my entire life, but I’ll never do it again.”