A Mansfield dad who saved his six-year-old son from choking on a piece of chicken has been shortlisted as a finalist for an annual hero award.

Matt Reavill, (38), is one of more than 50 finalists at the annual St John Ambulance Everyday Heroes Awards, supported by Laerdal Medical.

He said watching a video by chance on Facebook helped him to come to the rescue when his son, Alfie, got into trouble in January.

Matt, who has been shortlisted in the Hero Parent Of The Year category, was on the phone upstairs at his home when he heard his daughter, Jessica, scream.

“I then heard my partner, Kate, shout me in a panicked tone and I knew something serious had happened,” he said.

“I ran downstairs and into the playroom. Jessica was crying and shouting ‘daddy, Alfie’s dying!’ I realised he was struggling to breathe and was choking on something.

“His face was unbelievable, an image that will haunt me. He had an expression of terror — he was red, it was like he was sucking on a ping-pong ball and he was deadly silent among all the commotion.

“I put him over my knee and gave him some back slaps. It dislodged a bit of food and he started to cough and rasp a bit, but he was still struggling to breath so I tilted him over more and continued with the back slaps.

“Luckily on the fifth or sixth blow, a big wedge of half-chewed chicken came out. He coughed and then started to breath really rapidly, but it then steadied and his colour returned.”

Matt said he had some first aid knowledge, but was a little rusty.

“By chance I had watched a St John Ambulance video on Facebook, which showed how to treat a choking child, just a couple of weeks before,” he said.

“Just that little bit of extra information gave me the confidence that I was doing the right thing.

“I would have been flapping a bit had I not seen it.

“Alfie is fine now, but I wouldn’t want to go through that again.”

The awards are the St John Ambulance’s yearly celebration of ordinary people who have taken extraordinary heroic actions to help someone in need.

Each finalist has been nominated for their heroic lifesaving skills or unstinting commitment to ensuring more lives are saved through first aid.

Laerdal Medical, the creators of CPR mannequin Resusci Anne. and St John Ambulance are working together to help save lives through first aid.

The awards, in London in September, will be hosted by presenter and musician Myleene Klass, who also saved her daughter from choking using first aid.

“I know from personal experience how scary it is when you’re faced with a first aid emergency. My own daughter choked when she was just a baby, and I really believe because of the first aid training I’d had, I was able to save her life,” she said.