‘If my daughter hadn’t said anything then I wouldn’t be here now’
Amelia, three, helped save her mum’s life when she had a seizure and fell face-down into the bath
A THREE-YEAR-OLD saved her mum’s life after she had an epileptic seizure and fell in the bath by shouting: “Mummy pinched my bath!”
By the time Emma Evans, 33, was found by her husband, Alun, 52, a property maintenance manager, four minutes later she had turned “navy blue”.
Emma believes if her little girl, Amelia, hadn’t raised the alarm when she did, she would have died.
Amelia shouted for Alun after her mum fell headfirst into the tub of warm water during a seizure on 16 March – saying, “Mummy pinched my bath”.
Concerned Alun ran into the bathroom and found Emma with no pulse and not breathing – but after six rounds of CPR, he was able to restart her heart.
After spending five days in Bridgend’s Princess of Wales Hospital, Emma was sent home with strict instructions to rest.
Now she says her daughter is the reason she’s alive today and believes if anything had happened differently, she wouldn’t ldn’t have survived.
Mum-of-one Emma, an operaterating department ent p r a c t i t i o n e r, from Bridgend, , said: “My husband brought me back to life but if my daughter hadn’t said anything or r wasn’t in the e room then I wouldn’t be here now – it would d be a completely different story.
“While he was doing d i chest compressions, she had her little wand and was waving it above my head saying ‘wake up mummy’.
“I’ve not really been able to go in the bathroom since, it’s been really hard.
“I feel like if there was any part of that situation different it would have ended differently. My husband was away the week before and my daughter usually plays in her bedroom while I run her a bath – it was obviously not my time to go.”
Emma was running Amelia a bath when the seizure happened and says the last thing she remembers is her little girl asking her to “spin around like a princess”.
Emma, who was diagnosed with epilepsy aged 22, says she believes she had a seizure before falling against the door and then into the bath.
Previous seizures have left her with a serious head injury, a broken nose and broken teeth.
Amelia shouted for Alun who came running into the room and Emma says he described her as underwater and “navy blue”, with no pulse and not breathing.
He pulled her out the water and gave two rescue breaths before starting chest compressions – and incredibly after six rounds of CPR brought her pulse and breathing back before paramedics arrived.
She was rushed to hospital and kept in for five nights before being released.
Despite having made a full recovery, Emma says the experience shook her up and has left her feeling incredibly lucky.
She believes without her daughter calling for help and her husband’s CPR knowledge, she wouldn’t have survived.
Now Emma wants to continue to teach Amelia what to do during a seizure and is encouraging others to learn CPR and first aid.
“CPR and first aid are not difficult to learn – it’s something that should be common knowledge,” Emma said. “It’s been a traumatic experience – I’m still recovering from basically dying.
“As Amelia gets older my husband will be teaching her CPR and first aid and we’ll teach her the basics of what to do during a seizure as she’s getting older too.
“I’m still just in disbelief – it was her actions that saved me, I just feel like given her age she’s gone above and beyond.”
I’m still just in disbelief – it was her actions that saved me... given her age she’s gone above and beyond
Emma Evans