5-Yr.-Old Saw Heimlich on TV, Saves Girlfriend

Five-year-old Brent Meldrum can’t pronounce Heimlich maneuver--he calls it “the time-life remover”--but he knew how to use it to save the life of a pal choking on a piece of candy.

“She (turned) almost full blue,” Brent said today of 6-year-old Tanya Branden, who got a piece of hard candy lodged in her throat. “My mother was screaming at me to get away from her.

“I ignored her. I knew what to do. I said to my mother ‘I saw this on “Benson,” ’ referring to the ABC situation comedy starring Robert Guillaume.

“Benson was choking,” Brent recalled. “His cheek was blown up like a balloon and a different guy went behind him, put his arms around, squeezed him, lifted him up and saved Benson.”

So Brent, who weighs 45 pounds, slipped his arms around Tanya from behind Monday evening, clasped his hands together and squeezed, lifting the 41-pound girl off the floor.

“I lifted her up and banged her on her feet. She bended over and she coughed and it plopped out,” the youngster said.

Tanya said in a small voice that when she was choking, “I didn’t think anything. Uh-uh.” But afterward, “I said thank you.”

Did she give Brent a kiss?

“Uh-uh,” she said. “He’s my boyfriend and my hero. But I never let him kiss me.”