How LifeVac® Works

LifeVac® is trusted

"As a Paramedic and CPR instructor with a swallowing disorder, I highly recommend LifeVac®. Not only do I teach my students how to use the LifeVac® (when other methods fail), I keep one in my home to give my family peace of mind; you should too. Using LifeVac® is as simple as 1 - 2 - 3." - Rodney Millspaugh, Paramedic

"If you have a serious neurological condition such as Parkinson's, MS, Alzheimer's, ALS or Stroke, you are at increased risk for choking. LifeVac® is a significant advance for preventing choking - related deaths and I recommend it to all my patients" - Dr. William Holt, Neurologist

​A new innovation to save lives and provide hope​
for MS patients with Dysphagia

Both my mother and father live with MS in Sarasota, FL. My mother lives with primary progressive MS and my father was initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS which has now progressed to secondary progressive MS. Despite the variances in their disease-related impairment and progression, they both share difficulties with swallowing, even early on post-diagnosis. My mom has experienced several episodes of choking and several months ago choked on a donut, turned blue, and fell unconscious. Despite many efforts, the several caregivers present at the time could not effectively perform first aid to relieve the obstruction. It took a large 6’4" Paramedic to slowly dislodge the food. She was approximately 30 seconds away from dying. ​
Luckily, she is doing well now, however based on her history of swallowing and choking issues coupled with the natural pulmonary decline in some MS patients, I am constantly faced with the anxiety that she will choke again, and will not survive. I share this story with you because I know that at various stages of MS, including early on in the course of the disease, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), pulmonary dysfunction, and muscle weakness arise. When these impairments occur early on most are unaware that there is a problem. ​Dysphagia may cause the individual to cough after drinking liquids, or choke when eating certain foods, especially those with a crumbly texture. ​
Whether you live with MS or are a caregiver for someone living with it, you can empathise with the array of swallowing challenges and the subsequent psychological toll that it creates for all. Unfortunately, if the swallowing challenges turn into a choking episode there is a chance the individual may aspirate, or inhale fluid or solids into the upper respiratory tract and lungs, resulting in aspiration pneumonia. This condition can be serious, requiring treatment with antibiotics, or could even be fatal.
If you think back to my mother’s recent choking episode, the natural question is….Why so many unsuccessful first aid attempts and why did the food barely dislodge? Pulmonary compromise may be one of the main culprits and that is why I am so excited to learn about an apparatus that is specifically designed to save someone from choking. It’s called LifeVac®.
The inventor and founder, Arthur Lih, created this product after hearing a story about the death of an 8 year-old boy after he had choked on a grape. He has professed, “How in this world of tremendous widespread innovation and achievement are we not able to save a child from dying on a grape!” It has become his mission to save as many lives, from this senseless type of death, as possible. The LifeVac® is a hand powered single patient portable suction apparatus developed for resuscitating a choking victim when standard first aid procedures have been followed without success.
My anxiety level, along with that of my parents’ caregivers, about my parents’ risk of choking has been drastically reduced just since finding out about this apparatus. I can’t begin to express how critically important LifeVac® will be not just for the MS population globally but for the relief of the psychological toll their dysphagia has on their family and caregivers. ​
There is now hope...

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