Jared Kotschwar

This is Jered's Navy picture (I got this on Jered's myspace account)

One day I was at my friend Nolan’s house for a sleepover. In the morning we woke up and his mom made us pancakes for breakfast. Right when I got my last pancake Nolan dared me to eat it in one bite. So I took the dare, but I couldn't swallow it down. Next thing I knew, I was choking and blacked out. Nolan’s oldest brother Jared saw what happened and did the Heimlich maneuver on me. The next thing I knew I was on the floor in Jared's arms and I was crying. Jared saved my life.

After this incident, I rarely ate pancakes again. The good thing about it, though, was that Jared was really moved by saving me and, after he graduated high school, he joined the Navy. He got his paramedic license and is serving as a Hospital Corpsman in Virginia. He is currently serving his second year in the service and says that it was because of me choking that he decided it was his life goal to save lives.