She was only 7, but Allison Arnold will never forget that Thanksgiving.

Arnold’s family was hosting Thanksgiving dinner at their home in Naperville North, Arizona. Her whole family was there because it is one of the few holidays they all gather together for. 

“Thanksgiving was big in my family when we were younger,” Arnold said.

Whenever the whole family gets together something memorable is bound to happen. 

“My cousin swallowed a whole chicken wing and started choking,” said Arnold, a junior Nursing major. “My mom had to pull it out.

“I was kind of confused that she was choking, but I was young and didn’t realize the severity of her choking,” she said. “Everyone was super-concerned, but once my mom pulled the wing out of her throat everything calmed down.”

Mom, who was still responsible for dinner, quickly shifted gears after saving her niece. 

“I remember my mom pulling out the wing then rushing back into the kitchen to make sure the food wasn’t burning,” Arnold said. “Not all heroes wear capes.”

After the chicken wing drama, dinner proceeded as expected. 

“Since she was okay, we all just kind of laughed it off afterwards,” Arnold said. “All my cousins and I made fun of my cousin for making a plate of appetizers instead of eating the main Thanksgiving foods because then she wouldn’t have been in the chicken wing situation from the jump.

“We continued on, and still had dessert,” she said. 

The jokes about her cousin’s choking on the chicken wing come up yearly now. 

“Whenever we joke about the time she choked on a chicken wing, she plays along and her dad reenacts how dramatic her mom was when it happened,” said Arnold. “It is pretty funny still to this day.”