5-year-old saves mom
Aisling DeGruchy a real-life superhero like ‘Wonder Woman’
The last thing MaryAnn DeGruchy saw as the world faded to black was the face of her little girl.
Nothing made sense. DeGruchy couldn’t make her body do what she wanted, as though the signals from her brain weren’t reaching her limbs.
“It was way beyond getting lightheaded,” DeGruchy said.
“I honestly didn’t know what was happening.”
She was taking the trash out to the curb at her St. Catharines home on Feb. 23, at about 7 a.m. when the world began to spin like a Tilt-A-Whirl.
DeGruchy staggered to her front porch as her legs went dead.
“I didn’t know what was happening. My kids were inside, my husband was at work,” she said.
“I managed to lay down on the porch. I knew I had to lie down. And I called out to my daughter.
I just said ‘Aisling, Mommy needs help.’
“The last thing I saw was her little face looking down at me.”
Aisling, DeGruchy’s five-year-old daughter, didn’t panic. She grabbed a cushion from a nearby chair and tucked it under her mother’s head.
She held DeGruchy’s hand and called out to a neighbour she knew for help.
That neighbour called 911 and when DeGruchy opened her eyes, she was at the St. Catharines hospital being treated for what has been diagnosed as a seizure. “It can be difficult for adults to know what to do in an emergency,” said Kevin Smith, chief of Niagara Emergency Medical Services, who awarded Aisling a citation for bravery Wednesday morning.
“That a four- or five-year-old girl stayed calm and knew what to do should be an example and inspiration to everyone.
“If someone is in trouble, you help them.”
Aisling was the centre of attention during an annual awards event at Niagara EMS headquarters in Niagara-on-the-Lake Wednesday.
Along with her commendation from Smith, Aisling also received a citation from regional chair Alan Caslin.
Caslin, who let Aisling wear his chain of office, told the little girl she was a real life superhero “like Wonder Woman.”
During the ceremony, Aisling appeared shy and uneasy in a room full of adults taking her photograph. Once she got used to the attention, however, Aisling started hamming it up for photos with Smith and Caslin making the shape of a heart with her hands.
DeGruchy, who is still being treated for the seizure’s underlying cause, said she was extremely proud of her daughter who appears no worse for wear by the incident.
“The next day she was at school proudly telling everyone she helped call 911 to save her mom,” DeGruchy. “She and my son and my husband have been amazing as I go through all of this.”