Jenny Thomas, left, and MacKenzie Cunningham

Jenny Thomas and MacKenzie Cunningham met in sixth grade.

Since then, the best friends have sat around eating snacks, watching television and laughing countless times. But earlier this month, that scene turned to panic when Cunningham choked on a piece of Chex mix when the girls were laughing at something one of their friends had said.

“They didn’t know I was choking at first,” Cunningham said.

She had fallen on the ground, but the four other girls in the room initially thought she was just still laughing.

“She turned around, and her face was almost purple,” Thomas said.

The girls were in the pool house of a friend’s home while the friend’s parents were in the main house. One of the girls ran to get her parents, two froze and Thomas jumped into action.

“My first instinct was the Heimlich,” Thomas said. “We had to pick her up but my friends were in shock, they didn’t move. So I lifted her up and gave her the Heimlich.”

Thomas and Cunningham are both certified lifeguards, having taken the training course separately this past summer. Thomas took it in order to teach self-defense classes at Austin Jiu-Jitsiu and swim lessons to children while Cunningham worked as a lifeguard.

“When I learned how to do it, I never thought I’d actually have to use it,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know I was that good under pressure.”

Cunningham said that she’s gotten food caught in her throat before, but that it had always gone away. Thomas said it took a few tries to free her airway, but that after the ordeal was over, Cunningham was the least shaken in the bunch.

“All of us were more scared than her afterwards,” Thomas said. “I was shaking.”

Now that the shock has worn off, it’s something they can both laugh about. As juniors, they are both beginning to focus on college and, while neither has picked a top choice yet, both are looking at going to the Northeast.