Lee County Sheriff's Office receives 450 LifeVacs from local donors

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — The Lee County Sheriff's Office now has 450 new LifeVacs.

Fox 4's Bella Line speaks with one Cape Coral man whose child was saved by the device:

In October of 2024, Fox 4's Bella Line introduced us to the Priebe family.

Previous reporting:
Cape parents' worst nightmare turns into heroic story of strangers helping save their toddler

Ray Priebe's daughter, Maya, was just 3-years-old when he said she began choking in the backseat of their car. Priebe pulled into the median at El Dorado Boulevard and Tropicana Parkway, where he said he used a LifeVac anti-choking device to clear her airway.

"I was facing a worst case scenario with my daughter," said Priebe. "She wasn't breathing, and this device saved her bottom line, I tried back blows. I tried everything else."

On Tuesday, LifeVac and the Cassata Foundation donated 450 LifeVac devices to the Lee County Sheriff's Office and Priebe is helping spread the word about the life saving device.

The founder, Arthur Lih, said LifeVac is designed to be simple to use in an emergency.

"It's as simple as place, push, pull, and it pulls out the obstruction," Lih said.

Lih said stories like Maya's — and more than 5,000 others — are why he is working to get the devices into the hands of first responders.

"To sit back and know that they still have their child, they didn't have that change of life, it's the greatest feeling you could ever imagine," Lih said.

While the LifeVac device is not approved by the FDA, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said it could save lives in our community.

"It used to be a blind finger sweep, with this tool, we're able to immediately suction the object right out of the person's mouth. It's literally life saving," Marceno said.

Priebe said he plans to continue working to get the devices out to the broader community.

"That date lives on as a day of happiness, because I saved my daughter. It could have been easily the other way," Priebe said.

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