Mum thanks Ambulance Crew for saving 3 year old.
Tuesday, 24 November, 2015
On the morning of 21st August, three year old Reuben Parry typically woke up as bright as a button, ate breakfast and had begun watching the Lion King movie when he began having a seizure.
Having not been sick beforehand, the music loving tot worried his mum, Natasha Parry, enough to call 999 and ask North East Ambulance Service for help immediately.
Natasha, said, “He hadn't been poorly at all and he was happy and laughing at the lion king when out of the blue the seizure happened.”
In just 6 minutes, rapid response paramedic Tim West was on scene with third year student paramedic from Teesside University, Rachel Holmes, to find Reuben stop breathing.
With North East Ambulance Service for 10 years, Tim has been working as a paramedic since 2008 and has 2 young children of his own. He said, “When we got there Reuben was lying on the sofa in the living room, not responding, with very shallow breathing, before he stopped completely. Rachel secured his airway and manually ventilated him to make sure we kept him breathing.”
They were quickly followed by paramedic Julie Hughes and her colleague Robert Douglas, by which time he had gone into respiratory arrest. They quickly took Reuben on board the ambulance to transport him to North Tees Hospital during which he began to respond with the help of the team.
Natasha continues, “They all travelled to hospital with us and thankfully they managed to get Reuben breathing again on route. Not only were the staff really quick but they were all really caring and professional.”
Reuben arrived at hospital where they were met by the paediatric team in resus and doctors undertook tests to find out what was wrong.
Natasha added, “You hear stories of patients waiting for long periods of time for an ambulance but I know only too well how short and stretched all emergency services are - I work with paramedics closely every day. The crew who attended even took the time to visit us and see how my boy was getting on later that day. Ambulance staff do an amazing job and quite frankly they saved my son’s life that day - they were amazing and a true credit.”
Reuben is now being assessed for autism and awaiting further tests but he has thankfully had no further seizures and is back to playing with his cars and trains and enjoying the company of his friends at nursery and favourite childminder.
Paramedic Julie added, “I remember Reuben well and I’m so pleased he had a good outcome. We don’t often hear feedback directly from the family so it has been lovely to meet with the family under better circumstances.”
