Willie Ross was watching his son’s Major League Baseball team when he was asked to perform a life-saving maneuver on a choking fan.
According to The Mercury News, Ross, the father of Washington Nationals pitcher Joe Ross as well as Texas Rangers pitcher Tyson Ross, attended the Nationals’ game at the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
When a woman in the Oracle Park stands started choking, Willie Ross — a pediatrician at Stanford Hospital — performed the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge three pieces of a hot dog from her airways.
“I saw her having some difficulties and I saw her companion helping her out,” Ross said. “I was watching, making sure she was OK. She gestured like she was OK and I went over just to check and she couldn’t talk. She needed some help. I don’t think a lot of people knew what was going on because they were focused on the game.”
The fan, a recently retired nurse in Oakland, was able to stay for the rest of Saturday’s game.
“She was thankful, she was grateful, but she was also a little embarrassed because she’s a nurse,” Ross said. “She’s used to giving, not receiving.”
