Four-year-old reunited with paramedic who helped save his life

By Izzy Hawksworth via SWNS

A four-year-old has been reunited with the paramedic who helped save his life when he was airlifted to hospital after he stopped breathing at home as a newborn.

Little Isaac Hoey was just six-weeks-old when he started turning blue after returning from a family break in the Lake District with his mother Helen, 36, and father Steven, 41.

Helen, who had learnt life-saving CPR just weeks earlier on a £20 ($23) first aid course, resuscitated the tot while they waited for medics to arrive to their house in Sunderland, England.

Isaac was airlifted to the pediatric intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where it was revealed that Isaac was suffering from bronchiolitis.

The conditions is a common lower respiratory tract infection that affects babies and young children under two years old.

Now four years later, the family has been reunited with paramedic Andy Mawson, who is also the director of operations at the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

An emotional video captures the moment a grinning Andy tells Isaac he remembers him, but he that he was tiny when he last saw him.

Andy said: “I still remember how tiny Isaac was when I first saw him, so it was a pleasure to meet him again four years later and see how much he has grown, as well as meet his little brother Elijah."

Isaac has now raised £730 (4859) for the GNAAS with his little brother Elijah, two, by walking, running and scootering 32 miles in a month.

Andy added: “I was delighted to hear how much the boys had raised for our charity and they should be very proud of their achievement.”

Helen said: “Not many people realize GNAAS is not part of the NHS, it’s completely based on charitable donations.

“It would be horrendous to think that another family would be in our situation, and that the air ambulance wasn’t there to help.

"It’s such an essential service and obviously needs to be funded in order to make sure that it keeps running.”

The family had been at the Lake District where Isaac, the couple's first child, had shown common flu-like symptoms.

Helen and Steven decided to pack up their car and head home to Sunderland and placed Isaac in his car seat at 6 A.M. on Monday, January 22.

However, as the family were emptying the vacation home of their belongings, Isaac stopped breathing.

After beginning CPR on the tot, Helen rushed him inside where Steven placed him on a kitchen table to continue following her advice while she called for an ambulance.

As paramedics rushed an air ambulance to the holiday home, Isaac's parents incredibly saved his life.

Helen said: “We had been for a weekend away in the Lakes and Isaac had developed a cold over the course of a few days which had gradually got worse.

“On the Monday morning we had packed the car and were ready to go home when Isaac started crying in his car seat.

“It’s normal for a baby to cry, but then he was having a coughing fit whilst he was crying and his face went blue, so I shouted for my husband Steven and between us we rang an ambulance.”

Helen said Isaac has had a couple of bouts of bronchiolitis since, but has now recovered well and his favorite thing to do is running.