10/30/2026
My heart is absolutely broken for Adrian Thompson and her family. I know all too well the devastation that comes with losing a child to choking. The heartbreak, the unanswered questions, the overwhelming feeling that things could have been different. It is a pain that no family should ever have to experience.
And while I cannot begin to speak for this family or everything that happened during Adrian's emergency, I can speak to something we have been shouting from the rooftops for years.
TRAINING MATTERS. SECONDS MATTER. BEING PREPARED MATTERS.
Every person responsible for the care of another human being should know how to respond to a choking emergency. BLS (Basic Life Support), CPR, and proper choking response training are not just certifications to check off a list. They are skills that can mean the difference between life and death.
Call 911. Know what to do while help is on the way. Recognize when someone is choking and act immediately. Have the proper tools available, including a LifeVac as a backup option when standard choking rescue procedures have failed, without delaying CPR or emergency care.
Because when someone cannot breathe, there is no time to figure out what to do.
We lost our son, Maverick, to choking in April 2022. Our world shattered that day, and there isn't a single day that goes by that we don't wish things had been different.
But through Maverick's Legacy, we have worked tirelessly to make sure other families have a different ending to their stories.
Fourteen lives.
Fourteen people are alive today after being saved with LifeVac devices provided through our organization in Maverick's memory. Fourteen families who were given more time, more birthdays, more holidays, and more memories together.
That is why we do this. That is why we continue to educate, advocate, donate devices, and offer free demonstrations. That is why we refuse to stop talking about choking preparedness, even when it can feel like nobody is listening.
And that is why stories like Adrian's hurt so deeply.
It saddens me beyond words that sometimes it takes another tragedy for people to recognize how important this really is.
I don't want another family to join this club that nobody ever wanted to be part of. I don't want another parent to know what it feels like to walk into their child's empty bedroom and realize they will never come home.
We cannot change what happened to Maverick. We cannot change what happened to Adrian. But we CAN learn. We CAN train. We CAN prepare. And we CAN save lives.
Please, if you take anything away from this heartbreaking story, let it be this: Get trained. Learn CPR and BLS. Equip yourself with a LifeVac and watch the training videos. Learn how to respond to choking in infants, children, and adults. Make sure your schools, daycares, restaurants, and first responders have the training and resources they need.
Don't wait until tragedy touches your family or your community to take action.
To Adrian's family, our hearts are with you. I wish more than anything that you weren't experiencing this unimaginable pain. I hope that through the love surrounding your little girl, and the lessons learned from her story, other lives will be saved.
We will continue fighting for a world where fewer families have to experience this heartbreak.
For Adrian. For Maverick. For every life we still have the chance to save. 💙
Justice for Adrian
Maverick's Legacy
www.MavericksLegacy.org
