Worried waitress saves OAP stuck in bath for 4 days
AN 87-year-old woman stuck in her bath for four days survived by topping up the hot water and drinking from the cold tap.
Doreen Mann was only saved after a waitress at the cafe she visits became concerned and raised the alarm.
Mrs Mann, from Southend, said: “I still can’t believe it happened and thank God I survived.
“I don’t know how I did it. I just couldn’t get out of the bath and I was there from Friday morning until Monday morning.
“The peculiar thing was I always hang my dressing gown on the boiler door but this time I hung it on the door right by the bath – and because I did, I used that as a makeshift cover.
“I had that and the towel. It was frightening because I didn’t know how long I’d be stuck there.”
The retired hairdresser got herself out of the bath at first but then slipped and fell back.
She decided to wait until she felt better, drained the water and wrapped herself up.
But when she tried again in her usual way by kneeling, she had suffered bruising to her legs.
Waitress Sonia Congrave, 39, called police after Mrs Mann failed to turn up at Cafe Tomassi where she has been a regular five days a week for 13 years.
When officers arrived at her home, they could hear her calls for help.
Mrs Mann said: “We are close, Sonia’s like a daughter to me, as I haven’t got anybody else.
“She’s getting me a mobile phone now because of me being upset in the bath all those days.”
Mother-of-two Sonia said: “Doreen wasn’t sure she was going to make it.
“She said she drank the water from the tap and kept filling the bath and letting it out. She’s a really strong woman – all she wanted afterwards was her cake and a cup of tea.”