An eight-year-old girl saved her baby sister’s life – using tricks learned from watching TV’s 24 Hours in A&E.
Skye Nelson came to the rescue of one-year-old Payton after she choked on a small square of Milky Bar.
The girls’ mother, Jackie, was upstairs and ran down to discover Payton blue and struggling to breathe, with Skye bent over and hitting her repeatedly on the back.
Seconds later Payton vomited and the chocolate was dislodged.
Mrs Nelson said her daughter, who wants to be a doctor, shares her obsession with real-life medical TV shows. Her favourite programmes include 24 Hours in A&E and Inside The Ambulance.
Mrs Nelson, a mother-of-three, said: “It wasn’t until I heard Skye shouting ‘Mam, mam!’ that I realised there was something seriously wrong.She sounded scared. She wasn’t crying or screaming but you could hear the fear in her voice.
“It sounded like it was just a cough at first. Payton’s always coughed a lot, so I didn’t think much of it.
“But when I heard Skye scream I knew something was wrong.”
Mrs Nelson said her taxi driver husband Roland, 61, was in the kitchen making dinner at the time of the emergency and was unable to hear the commotion.
She said: “My heart was going10 to the dozen. It was only later on that night when we sat down around the table and we’d calmed down a bit that I realised if Skye hadn’t acted so quickly I could have lost my little girl.
“Payton was okay thankfully but we didn’t realise how bad it could have been until we checked with her GP. They told us she was very lucky.”
Skye was shortlisted for the Young First Aid Hero award as part of Scottish First Aid Week.
She received a certificate from the Scottish Ambulance Service for her bravery and quick thinking.
Mrs Nelson, from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, said she had previously taken a first aid course and made sure Skye knew what to do in an emergency.
She added: “I was just so shocked Skye had acted so quickly and saved her sister’s life.
“We always watch a lot of hospital programmes and she is always glued to the TV.
“We were watching one where a wee boy had choked on a grape, and where most kids would look away, Skye was so interested.
“I think she knew what to so because she has picked up stuff from these programmes. She’s very mature for her age.”
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