Kiwi star Duncan Garner's fearful moment for son: 'Don't do this to me'

Duncan Garner has revealed the "dreadful" moment he had to save his son's life when he choked during breakfast at the weekend.

The AM Show host Garner recalled taking six-year-old Buster to breakfast on Saturday morning and, because Buster was starving after a game of rugby league, he was shovelling food in despite being told to cut it up first.

"He put [some bacon] in his mouth and I noticed he was choking. He looked at me and I could see, it was just me and him there, mum had gone," Garner recalled.

"I started whacking him on the back which didn't do anything. I didn't know how to do [the Heimlich manoeuvre] and I looked at him...and I thought 'no, not me, don't do this to me.'

"I put my hand as far as I could into his throat and pulled this bit of bacon rind out. Then he coughed and the rest of it came out. His eyes welled up, I gave him some water and we both sat there."

Garner said hearing that cough felt "like winning Lotto", but was also plagued by the thought of what would've happened if he hadn't managed to get that bit of bacon loose.

He later promised to have a segment on the show to help teach people how to react in a similar situation and how to correctly perform the Heimlich manoeuvre.

This article was first published on Spy and is republished here with permission.