How two brave children, aged 11 and 9, saved their mother’s life after the 39-year-old suffered a heart attack at home
Two young children have been honoured after saving their mother’s life when she suffered a cardiac arrest at home.
Donna Liddle, 39, was getting ready to drop Oliver, 11, and nine-year-old Arianna off to school when her daughter found her unconscious on the bathroom floor.
The boy called her brother, who immediately sprang into action and placed his mother in the recovery position. He had learned the technique at school.
Arianna then called an ambulance and then ran across the street to alert a neighbor, who began performing CPR.
Within six minutes, emergency services arrived at their home in Aberdeen and Mrs Liddle was given three defibrillator shocks to restart her heart.
Oliver and Arianna Liddle pose with paramedics John McCook and Monica Hurley after they were honoured for saving their mother Donna’s life when she collapsed at home and went into cardiac arrest
Scottish Ambulance staff with Arianna Liddle (centre), her brother Oliver (centre right) and their mother, Donna (second from right)
The proud mother, who spent the next two weeks in hospital, said she was dealing with a “traumatic situation that many adults would have had to deal with” but said: “Without a doubt they saved my life.”
The siblings have been honoured by the Scottish Ambulance Service for their bravery and life-saving actions.
Mrs Liddle was home alone with the children, as her husband was working in London, and was just getting ready to take the children to school, when she collapsed in June this year.
She explained what had happened: ‘I was brushing my teeth and my daughter came to me. She found me on the floor, unresponsive.’
‘She screamed for her brother to come and help. Arianna called 999 while Oliver tried to put me in the recovery position.
‘Oliver also spoke to the operator while my daughter crossed the road to get our neighbors.
“She felt that immediate help was needed because I had turned blue and was not breathing. My neighbors started CPR before the emergency services arrived.”
Mrs Liddle spent the next two weeks in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and is recovering well. She was fitted with an electronic device called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). This device monitors and records electrical problems with the heart.
She said: ‘This amazing technology should pull my heart out of a fatal arrhythmia if it happens again. If it fails, it will deliver a shock similar to that of a defibrillator.’
“The survival rates from cardiac arrest are low and I am so grateful to be here to tell the story.”
The siblings were presented with a certificate and hugs for their bravery during a visit to Aberdeen Ambulance Station, where they met some of the staff who attended the incident, including Monica Hurley, a newly qualified paramedic.
Mrs 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 crucial in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
‘The children remained really calm throughout the whole incident.
“I will never forget the hug I got from the children after we got her heart rate back to normal and we were able to tell them that their mother is in stable condition thanks to the help of the trauma team.”
Mrs Liddle now wants to raise £10,000 for the NHS Grampian Charity’s Cardiology Fund.
Mrs Hurley and John McCook, a technician, who were also present at the incident, have also volunteered to go to their children’s school to teach CPR.