A 15-year-old paperboy saved the life of an 94-year-old woman when he noticed she hadn’t collected her paper for three days.
Liam Apps was completing his round when he noticed the papers at her house had not been collected from the doormat.
Worried, he told his mum after he finished school and together with a neighbour they broke into the property.
They found the severely dehydrated woman lying inside with a serious wound to her leg.
She is now recovering in hospital.
The teen, who one day hopes to be a paramedic or policeman, said: “When I was on my paper round before school I got to the door and saw that the papers from the last three days were stacked up on her doormat.
“I didn’t really think anything of it but after school I asked mum if we could check.
“We asked her neighbours for help and then went round the back of the house and knocked on the window.
“At first we had no response but then there was a voice that shouted they couldn’t get off the floor.”
Liam dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance while his mum, Katie, and the neighbours broke down the back door.
He added: “At first we couldn’t see where she was but after going inside we saw her laying down in the corner.
“It looked like she’d fallen over, she had a big cut on her leg and although I couldn’t see any other injuries she had a pressure sore on her back because she’d been laying down at an angle for a couple of days.”
Liam, who had been delivering papers to the woman on a daily basis since 2019, said the last time he spoke to her was just before Christmas when she gave him a tip as a gift.
He said: “The elderly lady said it hadn’t been night time while she had been on the floor which I thought was strange, but, she was probably confused and dehydrated.
“I had a call from the paramedics and they told me that she is still in hospital and doing okay which is good to hear.
“I feel good that I helped because if I thought nothing of it then she would probably still be there.”
Mum and midwife Katie Pollitt, 39, who lives nearby in Wigmore, Kent, said: “I’m really really proud. I can’t say I’m surprised because he’s a really good lad.
“After we got home from the house the paramedic that came to take the lady rang Liam personally on his mobile and thanked him and said what a wonderful thing he had done.
“I think he was a bit shell-shocked at first. He was panicked and didn’t know what to do.
“He did really really well. He made the call to the ambulance while me and a neighbour broke into the house.
“He is buzzing from the attention now. I think he was a bit like, at first, it’s no big deal and anyone else would have done it, but he’s been getting lots of messages from his friends so I think he thinks it’s quite cool now.”
The elderly lady gave her rescuers permission to break down her door however a GoFundMe page has now been set up to pay for repairs. It has already raised more than double the target of £150.
Katie added: “The door is going to be fixed and the GoFundMe page will raise the money for that.
“Also, this lady’s house was pristine and her carpets were quite blood stained so we’d like to get her carpets cleaned and maybe get her some flowers for her to come home to.”
