A horrified mum has spoken of the moment her two-year-old son almost died choking – on a sausage roll.
Little Henry Peddar was unable to breath after helping himself to the nibbles while left temporarily unattended in the kitchen.
He potentially saved his own life by stumbling into the garden and alerting his frantic mum to the trouble he was in.
After being sedated for four days in hospital with the family worried he had suffered brain damage, Henry is said to have taken ‘massive steps forward’ in his progress.
But the family, from Haslemere, in Surrey, is now moving house in a bid to “erase the horrible memories” of the day they almost lost their son earlier this month.
Mum Lucy Peddar, 28, said her biggest regret was leaving Henry alone while she was caring for his younger sister in the garden.
Lucy, a childcare assistant, said she will never forget the moment she found her son turning blue.
She said: “We were in the garden – I’d just left a few nibbles on the table inside.
“If he hadn’t have stumbled out to the back garden I may never have known he was choking.
“He’s a fast eater so he must have shoved lots in at once and the pastry must’ve coated his throat and agitated him.
“Everyone’s reactions were to pat him on the back, give him a chest rub and stick their fingers down his throat to try and make him be sick.
“You don’t think about how tiny they are or about breaking ribs – you just do everything you can.
“But I just felt helpless. It was a very emotional, a ‘please can someone help him?’ kind of moment.”
The ambulance took five minutes to get to the Peddar household and the mother-of-two said it “felt like it took forever”.
She added: “Once the ambulance came I just flew out the door – I don’t even remember opening the door.”
But Lucy found that even the paramedics were unable to help Henry despite their best efforts and he remained in the recovery position and struggling to breath on arrival at the hospital.
She said: “The sausage roll became lodged deep down in his windpipe and he aspirated some of the pastry into his right lung.”
Doctors sedated Henry and transferred him to St George’s Hospital in London for a clearer image of where the sausage roll was.
A procedure called a rigid brochoscopy was swiftly carried out to retrieve the roll.
But due to the amount of fluid and blood on his right lung, Henry had to be attached to a suction machine for four days to reduce his high chances of obtaining pneumonia.
After four days under sedation in intensive care, Henry needed another four days to become active again.
Lucy’s husband Tom, 31, was left worried that Henry was brain damaged after he was unable to move and remained silent for days after coming round and they say he is still not himself.
Lucy, who often chops foods into quarters for her son, said her advice would be to tell children to slow down when they are eating, to keep an eye on them and always make sure food is an appropriate size.
She added: “I’m not sleeping properly and it was hard coming home – we’re moving out in a few weeks to erase the horrible memories.”
