My 999 kid
BOY TAKES CARE OF DOGS AND BOOSTS MORALE Mum hails son who, at just four years old, volunteers with search-and-rescue team
STAR
At only four years old, Jackson McCall is the youngest rescue volunteer in the UK.
Standing at 3ft 1in tal l and tipping the scales at only 3st, he punches way above his weight as a valued junior member of the Trossachs Search and Rescue Team in Perthshire. While he is still too young to go out on live rescue missions, Jackson, from Grangemouth, never misses his weekly team training. Accompanied by his mum – fellow team volunteer Eilidh McCall – the youngster helps with the search-and-rescue dogs. Eilidh, 30, said: “At our last training session, Jackson acted ass a casualty – he went and hid andd the dogs had to find him.”
Jackson knows more about lifesaving than most youngsters his age – having had his own saved by medical staff. Eilidh said: “It’s all the emergency services, he’s obsessed with sirens and lights.
“We had lots of trips in ambulances when he was little as he was born nine weeks early and it seems ingrained into him. He nearly died on me as he had dodgy lungs.”
She said her son is thrilled that the team has serving paramedics and others with an emergency service background among its ranks.
She added: “There’s probably a good chance that he is the youngest rescue team member in the UK. He is always ready to go training before me and he’s got his own uniform.”
When Eilidh goes on a live callllout without her son, he understands. ds. She said: “He knows it’s differendifferent nt from the training sessions. When I come home, I get questioned about what dog it was and if the police were there. I am a trainee handler and Felon is my trainee pup but Jackson says it’s his search dog.”
Jackson hands out business cards to any emergency services worker he sees, signed from “Sgt Jackson on patrol”. The cards tell the lucky recipients: “Super heroes really do exist, thank you for protecting us, you are appreciated, you are loved, you are respected and we need you.”
Trossachs Search and Rescue Team’s Gayle Wilde said: “He is a cracking lad and has been coming to training this last year, helping with the dogs. He is also a greatgeat morale booster.” bo