(Newser) – It took days of trying, but Chicago mom Mary Graham was able to track down the stranger who saved her son's life in a Subway and took off before she could thank him. Indiana man Patrick Kissane was a customer in the restaurant Tuesday night when Graham's 2-year-old son, Noah, started to choke on a Dorito. "He started to turn blue," Graham tells WGN. "He did one big gasp for air then he stopped breathing and it looked like he was going to pass out." Kissane sprang to the rescue. He took the boy out of his stroller, patting his back and pressing his belly until the rogue piece of Dorito came up. By the time Graham had finished cleaning the little boy up in the bathroom, Kissane was gone.

Graham, who wanted to thank Kissane—and pay for cleaning the clothes Noah had vomited on—issued an appeal on social media, reports the Chicago Tribune. Days later, she spoke to CBS 2. Kissane's best friend called the station after seeing the story. They met so that she, Noah, and the rest of the family could thank him in person. He wouldn't take her money, but she gave him a Subway gift card, and a picture of Noah with the message: "I smile on, because you care. Thank you for being my guardian angel." Kissane says: "If I'm ever feeling down, I can take a look at that and it’ll definitely bring me right back up." He says he has no formal emergency training, but he has picked up a few things from his dad, a physical therapist. (Over the weekend, tragedy struck when a man died after choking during an eating contest.)

