Freya is alive today due to ‘hero’ first aider

‘Panicked’ mum Jody has since learned first aid, following the incident, and is encouraging others to do the same

A Fife mum has said she feared her daughter would die before a “heroic” lifesaver stepped in to save the choking toddler.

Freya Fernie, aged two, had been enjoying a family day out at Cairnie Fruit Farm near Cupar when a strawberry became stuck in her throat in October 2019.

The youngster, from Cardenden, was struggling to breathe and had begun turning blue when hero Kinross man Paul McHardy managed to dislodge the strawberry from her throat after witnessing the terrifying ordeal.

Frantic mum Jody King, 32, said she was overcome with “blind panic” as she watched her daughter struggle.

She said: “When I realised what was happening, I quickly got her out of her buggy and hit her on the back but that just never worked and it started to hit me that it was serious.

“The worst bit for me was when the man was working on her she was upside down and she started oozing saliva as she struggled.

“I was panicking thinking she was going to die. It was just blind panic and you think the worst.

“I remember thinking that if I had to phone an ambulance, they wouldn’t have made it to us on time.

“What happened to Freya shows what a difference a first aider can do. It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s the difference between life and death.

“I know that staff at the farm were first aid trained, but where we were at that time, we were too far away to alert them quick enough.

“The fact that a random person nearby was trained was just luck for us but imagine the lives that could be saved if we encouraged even more people to learn.”

Little Freya had gone to the farm with her mum, four-year-old sister and grandmother Ann Rollo to pick pumpkins when the terrifying ordeal happened.

Paul McHardy, who works at Forth Valley College in Falkirk, came to the rescue for little Freya and then calmly walked away without giving his name, prompting an appeal to trace him.

The Kinross man learned first aid a few years ago but insists he is not a “hero” and said he had to save his own daughter Sofia during a similar incident.

The tot choked on a pea pod some years ago but the brave dad used his skills to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre to save her life.

He had been at the fruit farm with his own family when he witnessed the struggle and administered a few harder whacks before the strawberry flew out.

Freya’s big sister Jorjia witnessed the horror and has been left “traumatised” as a result.

Jody added: “Jorjia witnessed the whole thing so she gets quite concerned and I think it has traumatised her a bit.

“She is always reminding Freya to chew properly. I think if she was first aid trained it would put her mind at ease.”

The distressing incident prompted Jody to learn the lifesaving skills for herself.

She was invited to take part in a first aid and CPR course from First Stop Safety Training, who teach classes across Tayside and Fife.

Jody said the lessons have equipped her with the confidence to administer first aid in an emergency.

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