Two young children have been honoured after they saved their mother’s life when she went into cardiac arrest at home.
Donna Liddle, 39, was getting ready to take Oliver, 11, and nine-year-old Arianna to school when her daughter found her unconscious on the bathroom floor.
The youngster called for her brother who immediately sprang into action and put his mother in the recovery position after learning the technique at school.
Arianna then phoned for an ambulance before racing across the street to alert a neighbour, who began performing CPR.
Within six minutes paramedics arrived at their Aberdeen home and Ms Liddle received three defibrillator shocks to restart her heart.
Oliver and Arianna Liddle pose with paramedics John McCook and Monica Hurley after being honoured for saving their mum Donna’s life when she collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at home
Scottish Ambulance staff with Arianna Liddle (centre), her brother Oliver (centre right) and their mother, Donna (second right)
The proud mother, who spent the next fortnight in hospital, said they were faced with a ‘traumatic situation a lot of adults would have struggled with’ but said: ‘Without a shadow of doubt, they saved my life’.
The siblings have now been honoured for their bravery and life-saving actions by the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Ms Liddle had been at home alone with the children as her husband was working in London and was getting ready to take the children to school when she collapsed in June this year.
Explaining what happened, she said: ‘I was brushing my teeth, and my daughter came to look for me – finding me on the floor unresponsive.
‘She screamed for her brother to come and help. Arianna called 999 whilst Oliver tried to put me into the recovery position.
‘Oliver also spoke to the call handler whilst my daughter ran across the road to get our neighbours.
‘She felt immediate help was needed as I had turned blue and not breathing. My neighbours started giving me CPR before the emergency services arrived.’
Ms Liddle spent the next fortnight in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and is recovering well after having an electronic device called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), which tracks and controls electrical problems with the heart, implanted.
She said: ‘This amazing technology should work to pace my heart out of a fatal arrhythmia if it occurs again and if this fails it will give a shock similar to that of a defibrillator.
‘The survival statistics of a cardiac arrest are low, and I feel very grateful to be here to tell the tale.’
The siblings were presented certificates and teddies for their bravery during a visit to Aberdeen Ambulance Station where they met to some of the staff who attended the incident, including Monica Hurley, a newly qualified paramedic.
Ms Hurley said: “It was wonderful to see Donna and her children again. The brave actions of her children saved her life that day – early intervention is critical in Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests.
‘The children really did remain so calm throughout the whole incident.
‘I’ll never forget the hug I got from the children after we got her heart beating back to a sustainable rhythm and we could tell them their mum is in a stable condition thanks to the help of the trauma team.’
Ms Liddle is now looking to raise £10,000 for the NHS Grampian Charity’s Cardiology Fund.
Ms Hurley and John McCook, a technician, who also attended the incident, have also volunteered to go to their children’s’ school to teach CPR.
