An 87-year-old who was stuck in her bath for FOUR days only survived by topping up the hot water, drinking from the tap and wrapping herself in a dressing gown.
Pensioner Doreen Mann, 87, was stranded in her bath tub and had been calling out for help for days as she lives alone with no nearby family.
She had bruised her knees by attempting to get out of the tub but couldn’t escape so had to sit and hope help turned up instead.
Thankfully Doreen was rescued after a waitress at the cafe she visits regularly became concerned she hadn’t shown up for her weekly slice of cake.
The pensioner, from Southend, Essex, said: “I still can’t believe it happened and thank god I survived.
“I do not know how I did it. I mean I just couldn’t get out of the bath and I was there from Friday morning until Monday morning.
“The peculiar thing was I always hang my dressing gown on the boiler door but this time I hung it on the door which is right by the bath.
“Because I did I used that as a make shift cover. That is the only thing I had but thank goodness I had that and the towel.
“At the time I thought ‘I have got to keep calm’, but when I look back I just do not know how I did it,
“I just can’t explain it but something inside me made me do it.
“I am lucky I am sitting here. It was frightening in a sense because I didn’t know how long I would be stuck there.”
Waitress Sonia Congrave, 39, called the police after the pensioner didn’t turn up at coffee shop and ice-cream parlour Tomassi’s, in Southend, Essex.
Doreen had left her patio doors unlocked and when police arrived at her home, they could hear her calling for help and found her wrapped up in the bath tub.
The pensioner began visiting Tomassi’s 13 years ago after her late husband moved into a care home.
On October 5, Doreen’s birthday, she headed to the cafe like normal for a slice of cake but didn’t visit on the Saturday as she always does.
By Monday Doreen still hadn’t shown up at the cafe, where Sonia has worked for 17 years, so she called police and asked them to head to her address.
Doreen had been stranded in the bath since 9.30am on October 7 and was finally rescued on October 10.
She said: “It was only thanks to Sonia notifying the police that they found me because she couldn’t get to me straight away herself.
“I do not know what I would do without her. It is just the fact that you have got someone to think about and you know she’s there and she is only at the end of the phone.
“She is not a relation of mine but we are close, she’s like a daughter to me, as I haven’t got anybody else.
“Right from when I first met Sonia I always nicknamed her as my adopted daughter.”
Sonia, of Southend, Essex, said calling police about her loyal customer was the best decision she has ever made.
The mother-of-two said: “She said she wasn’t sure she was going to make it and bruised all her knees where she tried to get out.
“She is a really strong woman – all she wanted afterwards was her cake and a cup of tea.
“She is a real character, all the staff and customers talk to her.
“She said she drank the water from the tap and kept filling the bath and letting it out until she stopped and covered herself with towels and robes.”
Doreen said the staff at the cafe have become her second family as she doesn’t have anyone else except for a cousin who lives in Chelmsford, Essex.
She added: “Going to Tomassi’s was the best thing I ever did. I started going in there 13 years ago and the staff there are so kind.
“I do not know what I would do without Sonia and the rest of them because it is my second home, they are my second family.
“She’s getting me a mobile phone now because of me being upset in the bath all those days.”
