'Grateful that I'm still alive’: Man’s life saved by stranger at Whistler, B.C., restaurant

A man from Powell River, B.C., is thankful to be alive after a stranger helped him while he was choking at a restaurant during a visit to Whistler.

Dan and Kathy Sickavish were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary at The Keg on Nov. 16 when the incident took place.

After being married for four decades, Kathy knew right away when the meal took a turn and Dan was in trouble.

“I could see, looking across from him, that something wasn't right,” she said.

Dan was choking on a piece of steak.

“He just looked at me with such panic, next thing you know, we were in this frightening state,” Kathy said, adding she felt helpless at that moment.

She wondered: “Am I going to lose my husband?"

At that moment, there was just one other couple in the restaurant. One of them, a woman, ran over after noticing Dan was in distress.

She grabbed Dan and started providing first-aid and the Heimlich maneuver.

“Then it came out," Kathy said. "I had a little cry.”

Dan calls the stranger his guardian angel.

“Who knows what would have happened? I am very grateful that I'm still alive,” Dan said.

Kathy and Dan say they didn’t get to properly thank the stranger, but they did manage to take a photo of her and knew her name was Erin. Their family posted the photo to social media, asking for the public’s help in finding her.

With the help of hundreds of people online, they were able to find Erin Johnstone, who had been having dinner at The Keg that night to celebrate her birthday.

She jumped into action, helping Dan, even though she had no formal first aid training.

“Next thing you know, I'm like, giving this fellow, that I don't even know, the Heimlich maneuver,” Johnstone said.

Looking back it's a blur, but she’s happy she was able to help.

“We don't need all the attention, like we're just glad that we were there,” Johnstone said.

The couple can’t thank her enough.

“Words cannot express really how much that means to me. Keep me going for a little while longer,” Dan said.

Next year, on the same day and at the same place, they’ve decided to all meet again, with a new reason to celebrate.