An amazing six-year-old ‘hero’ has been praised by her parents after she saved her mum’s life when she started having seizures and fits at their home.
Little Kelsie Cassidy, who was getting ready for school when her mum took unwell, jumped into action immediately as her epileptic mum, Karen Cassidy, starting fitting on the floor.
The brave youngster refused to panic and instead found a phone and tried to call her dad, Tim Cassidy, who had just left for work.
Unable to get through to him, she continued ringing other family and friends until she eventually spoke to her uncle Mark who contacted his brother.
Speaking about the family’s pride at Kelsie’s actions, Tim, from Blackburn, Lancs., said: “We couldn’t be prouder of the way she handled the whole situation.
“She remained calm and knew what she needed to do.
“Without getting help quickly, Karen would have been left fitting on the floor – she could have died.”
Tim, a warehouse team leader, works with his brother Mark Cassidy who was able to tell him straight away he needed to get home to Kelsie and Karen.
Tim said: “When I walked through the front door Kelsie was sitting on the floor next to Karen, holding her hand and stroking her saying, ‘it’s ok mummy, you’re going to be ok’.
“Not only was she incredible at comforting Karen and staying calm, but she rang all the people she could think of who might be able to help until she managed to get hold of my brother.
“He told me straight away what had happened as we work together.
“We’re so incredibly proud of her and the way she has acted – she’s never had to deal with that before.
“It could have been much worse, but we’re just happy this all played out the way it did.”
Karen, who is now at home and recovering well, was taken to hospital where she spent four hours being assessed by doctors.
They have now referred her back to the epilepsy team.
The 39-year-old – who also has three other daughters, Amy, 21, Katie, 20 and Emily, 18, who no longer live at home – said: “I’m totally overwhelmed with the way Kelsie managed the situation.
“There’s no question she saved my life and I couldn’t be more proud of her.
“She’s my hero.”
Speaking about her heroics, Kelsie said: “I felt a little bit sad but happy because I was looking after my mummy and keeping mummy safe until daddy came.”
Despite her bravery, Kelsie took the whole thing all in her stride.
Tim said: “At the end of it all, she was only interested in knowing if she could go back to school that day.”
Sadly she had to miss the day at school and stay with her older sister, Amy, while Karen and Tim were at the hospital.
However, the plucky little girl has now been recognised at her school, St Antony’s RC Primary School in Blackburn, by headteacher Heather McGowan, who said staff and pupils were impressed by her handling of the situation.
Mrs McGowan said: “We hand out badges for pupils’ different achievements and they wear them on their ties.
“It would be very rare that we give out the special achievement award, but when we heard about what Kelsie did we were so proud and it felt right to give her one.”