Three-year-old girl praised for life-saving act
‘I owe her my life’, says mum
A three-year-old West Sussex girl from Burgess Hill saved her mother’s life by talking to emergency services while her mum had a severe asthma attack.
Kayleigh Robus, 29, of St Andrew’s Road, Burgess Hill, said that on June 7 her brittle asthma became so bad she could not speak.
She was at home while her husband, Michael, was at work but her daughter Imogen was with her and told her ‘Mummy you need to ring the number’.
“She meant 999,” said Kayleigh, who dialed the digits before Imogen pressed the button to make the call go through.
She said that when the operator asked which service they needed Imogen said ‘my mummy can’t breathe properly’ and asked for help.
“They put us through to the ambulance from that and they were trying to talk to me but I couldn’t get any words out,” said Kayleigh.
The operator then realised she needed to speak to a child and asked Imogen if she knew where she lived.
“She doesn’t know the name of our road or our number or anything like that but they got the location off my phone,” said Kayleigh.
Emergency services then asked Imogen what landmarks were nearby.
“She told them there’s a shop just up the road, there’s a bus stop just outside our house and that our front door is grey,” said Kayleigh.
The ambulance service then asked Imogen to shout for help in the garden, which she did, and to open the front door and wait for the ambulance.
“The whole time Imogen had my phone with her and it was on speaker so I could hear what they were saying to her,” said Kayleigh.
“She just stood in the doorway,” she added, saying that the ambulance service kept talking to her and told Imogen not to leave the house.
Kayleigh said the experience was terrifying and that every time she tried to stand up she fell back onto the sofa.
“When Imogen saw the ambulance arrive she came running in to me and she said ‘mummy it’s going to be okay now’,” she said.
“If she wasn’t in the garden or outside our front door, she was sitting with me and trying to tell me to breathe slowly and she had my inhalers all laid out in front of her.”
When the ambulance team entered they were amazed Imogen had helped her mother so much.
“They asked ‘who phoned’ and I just pointed at her,” said Kayleigh.
“They were in shock, I think, that a three-year-old had phoned and got help.”
Kayleigh was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath where she stayed for five days.
She said she did not go into the intensive care unit but was checked regularly by the intensive care team and was given nebulisers, IV steroids and IV magnesium, as well as oral steroids for a month after the incident.
Kayleigh said she has been ‘in and out of hospital’ for the past seven years, since her regular asthma turned into brittle asthma – a more severe form of the condition.
“I have three different inhalers every day, I take tablets for my asthma and anything can set it off,” said Kayleigh.
She has been told that an asthma attack could kill her and said the one on June 7 was the worst she ever had.
“I honestly don’t know where I’d be if Imogen wasn’t here because it was just me and her at home,” said Kayleigh. “I owe her my life.”
Kayleigh, who works as a caregiver for Right at Home Mid Sussex, said she had not told her daughter how to ring 999 and does not know how she learned to do it.
She described her daughter’s actions as ‘incredible’ and said she and her husband have nominated Imogen for a Pride of Britain (Child of Courage) Award.
They are also planning to take her to Legoland.
South East Coast Ambulance Service said it was planning to arrange a certificate for Imogen.
“Imogen was amazing,” said SECAmb’s Marianne Hardie, who took the 999 call.
“She stayed calm and did everything right so we could arrange help for her mum.”
“The call really touched me as a mother of a young boy myself.
“I know Kayleigh must be very proud of her and wish her and Imogen all the very best for the future.”