A poorly mum suffering a life-threatening asthma attack managed to live to tell the tale – thanks to the courageous efforts of her five-year-old son.
Quick-thinking Charlie Bishop sprang into action when he found his mum Marie Mosley, 29, who was struggling to breathe, stumbling around their home in the early hours of the morning.
Marie had tried to contact her 54-year-old mother Mary who lives close by – but before she could get to her mobile brave Charlie was already calling his gran for help.
The youngster told her: “Mummy can’t breathe, come round – she needs to go to hospital.”
Marie had spoken to little Charlie about what to do if she had a asthma attack and shown him where her inhaler is located – but he had never used the vital information before.
The mother-of-three admits Charlie saved her life following the attack, which happened just two days before Christmas, and hailed him a “proper hero”.
Speaking about the incident, Marie, of Featherstone, West Yorks., said: “I felt a bit under the weather before I went to bed.
“I woke up at about 3am and I couldn’t breathe at all – I was having an asthma attack.
“I moved across the landing and was getting my phone ready to try and call my mum Mary in the hope she would realise something was wrong.
“Charlie heard me moving about so I walked towards his bedroom and he came out and said ‘what’s wrong?’
“He could see that I couldn’t breathe and he rang his grandma for me and said ‘mummy can’t breathe, come round, she needs to go to hospital’.
“She only lives a few minutes away so was straight around to take me there.”
Thanks to Charlie’s quick-thinking actions, Mary, 54, set off to hospital with Marie within ten minutes of the attack – which started on December 23 last year.
She received treatment throughout the next 12 hours and was discharged just in time for a family Christmas with her partner Stephen Bishop, 34, and two other young children Henry, three, and nine-month-old Sofia.
Stephen was working away when the incident occurred and was only thanks to Charlie waking up and noticing his mum couldn’t breathe which saved her life.
Speaking about her son’s actions, Marie said: “I would honestly not be here today if it wasn’t for Charlie.
“He didn’t panic at all – he knew straight away that something was wrong.
“He knows that I have an inhaler and we have spoken about what to do if something like this happens – but he’s never experienced me having an attack before.
“He was sat with me saying ‘it will be okay, it will be fine’ and was repeating all the things I say to reassure him when he’s poorly.
Adding: “You don’t realise that they know things like that until something like this happens.
“All the family are really proud of him – he was a right little trooper, a proper hero.”
According to the NHS Choices website, asthma attacks kill three people in the UK every day and someone has a potentially life-threatening attack every ten seconds.
