While many of the other students in the lunchroom at John H. West Elementary School thought he was joking, 9-year-old Ryan Rogers saw the look on his friend Michael's face and knew he was in trouble.

Ten-year-old Michael Scutellaro was choking on a chicken nugget, gasping for air.

Ryan ran from his seat, and using the poster on the wall as a guide, successfully administered the Heimlich Maneuver.

"It didn't surprise me," Ryan's mother Nadine said. "He is always watching re-runs of the television show ER."

Michael's mother Pam called the heroic deed, which occurred March 4, "the truest act of friendship," and said the fact that Ryan saved her son's life was "pretty extraordinary."

The boys have been friends since they were 2-and-a-half years old. Although they weren't in the same fourth-grade class this year, they were happy to have the same lunch period together.

"Ryan is always very good to his friends," his mother said. "He always looks out for them."