An Australian muesli mogul says she is grateful to be alive after disturbing video captured the moment she nearly choked to death on a piece of steak.

Carolyn Creswell, the founder of Carman’s Muesli, was hosting friends at her Gippsland home in November 2024 when the meat got stuck in her throat.

Her 30-minute battle to stay alive was captured on her home security cameras.

The mother-of-four was seen getting up from the dinner table and coughing on the patio before collapsing on the ground and splitting the back of her head open.

Her husband Peter tried the Heimlich manoeuvre, but when it failed he called an ambulance, with a friend staying on the line as he performed compressions for almost 30 minutes, a skill he learnt managing their kids’ nippers program. 

He told 9News of the horror he witnessed as his wife fought for breath. 

‘She was starting to go purple and I said “Can you breathe?” and then “Are you choking?” and she nodded and that’s when I knew she was in trouble,’ he said. 

Paramedics arrived and Ms Creswell, 52, was airlifted to hospital with head injuries, nine broken ribs and a broken sternum.

‘Apparently it’s not good CPR if it doesn’t break a few things,’ Carolyn said in an Instagram post recalling the near-death experience. 

‘Pete had only done his lifesaving training on mannequins before, but it really paid off when he needed it in real life.’

After a week in intensive care, the 52-year-old made a full recovery.

‘It’s a bizarre thing to be able to hear the stories. I’ve watched it over and over again to try and work out what I did wrong,’ she said.

‘I’m grateful every day and I’m so grateful to still be alive and still be a mum to my kids.’

Ambulance Victoria ALS Paramedic Trent Jackson removed the steak blocking Carolyn’s airways with a laryngoscope, a device used to prop open an airway.

‘I could see the end of the piece of steak, which I was able to grab onto with some forceps and extract it,’ he said.

‘Had another look and could see the tag end of another piece of meat pinched onto that one and pulled it out. It was a significant blockage, so a large piece of steak.’

Ms Creswell said she wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for her husband’s CPR efforts and advised Aussies to ‘chew your steak very well’.

‘Apparently, they told me in hospital it’s always the steak,’ she said.

Choking is responsible for more than 700 deaths in Australia each year.

It is often cited as the second leading cause of accidental death related to food.

Rates are highest among children aged 0–4 and adults over 65, with food the most common cause.

The highest hospitalisation rates for choking occur in infants under one year old.