Dino Konstantatos, an 18-year-old resident of Hicksville and a waiter at the Plainview Diner located on Old Country Road in Plainview, decided to work on his day off as a favor to a co-worker. Had he decided to stay home that Monday night and not work, Janet Solnin would not be here today.

Janet, a lifelong Plainview resident and a frequent customer of the diner, was having dinner with her husband Gil on Nov. 20. She tried to swallow a piece of meat as she was talking and began to choke. Several people attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on Janet, but were unsuccessful. Dino, who was standing behind the nearby cash register, heard a waitress yell out for someone to call 911. After he made the phone call, he ran over to try and save Janet.

He realized that the other waiter was not doing the Heimlich maneuver properly so he tried. "I learned in health class to place my hands two fingers below the breast bone," said Dino. "I also knew to pick the [choking victim] up and use a lot of force." In addition to the lessons in health class, the diner has signs posted illustrating how to help a choking victim.

Dino's efforts were successful and after about five attempts, the food was dislodged. The ambulance arrived about 90 seconds after Dino was done.

When Janet was admitted to the hospital, she was told by doctors that had another 30 seconds passed with her not breathing, she would have died. "Dino saved my life," Janet said. "Without him, I would be dead."

Janet remained in the hospital overnight for tests and was released the next day with a sore chest and a slight bruise. "He really hit me hard," said Janet of Dino's rescue, "but it worked."

Janet, who is still unsure of the events of the evening, as she was unconscious, remembers thinking about her husband and her son Eric, who is a student at Duke University in North Carolina. "Eric is studying abroad in Europe this semester and I was thinking that I would never see him again," said Janet.

After some hesitation, as she did not want to relive that evening, Janet visited the Plainview Diner earlier this week to give Dino a special gift - She presented him with a $500 gift certificate to the new Wiz store in Plainview.

"This is very unnecessary," said a very modest Dino. "I cannot accept this gift. I saved your life and that is gift enough."

Dino told Janet that he was sure her son Eric would save his mom if she were in a similar circumstance and would not expect anything in return. That is what he wanted.

Janet explained that her son did, in fact, save someone's life when he was the same age as Dino. A women crashed her car right in front of the Solnin's Plainview home a few years back and Eric found her in a diabetic coma. "He knew just what to do," said Janet, "and he saved her life." This time it was Janet's turn to be saved.

Janet would not hear of taking back her generous gift as Dino requested and she also offered to go shopping with him at the Wiz and spend his handsome reward. Janet is taking a small vacation to Las Vegas to help her recuperate, but plans to get together with Dino when she returns.

Also, Janet and her husband Gil offered to help Dino pay for his college education. He took this year off from school to work at the diner and save money. Dino plans to get involved in culinary work and is looking to attend the State University of New York at Cobleskill next September. In sticking with his character, Dino profusely refused.

The two will continue to argue over money and Janet's gifts, but because of Dino, Janet is alive and well. "I feel like I died and was brought back from the dead," said Janet. "I have no idea how he did it, but he saved my life. This was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me and I owe Dino everything."