Glasgow family seeks hero who saved their choking son outside IKEA

They are hoping to find the young man who they “will be forever indebted to”, the boy’s father wrote in a Facebook post.

Josh MacKenzie, 22, left IKEA with his mum Maureen Mackenzie, 49, around 3pm on Wednesday, January 16.

Maureen noticed something was wrong when he did not answer her when she asked him whether he remembered where they parked.

She said: “When I turned around, I could see he was choking on the hot dog. Just from the way he looked at me I knew he was in a bit of trouble.

“I started trying to hit his back just screaming: “Josh, josh, josh”. He was trying to stick his fingers down his throat to get it out.”

Josh collapsed to the floor and his mum could not get him up.

“The next thing a strong boy just came over, lifted him off the floor, did the Heimlich manoeuvre three times and out flew the hot-dog,” she said describing the incident.

“Just in my eyes he is an absolute hero. Just to do that for us some people may just have walked past or just looked to see what was happening.

“There just wasn’t even a second thought he just had done what he had to do and was successful thankfully.”

The mother and son walked away from the “unbelievable” incident in a state of disbelief.

She added: “Josh and me just walked away and couldn’t actually believe it. When we got to the car, I realised we need to go see that boy but by the time we had drove around he wasn’t actually there.”

Josh’s father, William MacArthur, took to Facebook to try and find the heroic young boy in a post that stated: “I know this is a long shot but a young man possibly from the East Coast/Fife, not a Glasgow accent, saved my son's life today at IKEA Glasgow.

“He was choking on a hotdog, possibly minutes from dying. He picked him up off the ground and gave him the Heimlich manoeuvre and the hotdog flew out.

“Hopefully, I can find this hero who we will be forever indebted to.”

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