When Every Second Counts: A Mother’s First Aid Story

When I was a tween and teen, I volunteered with St John Ambulance. Every Monday night we’d meet at an old, dusty hall to practise first aid. Sometimes we’d head out to parks for mock scenarios, and occasionally I’d put on my uniform and attend events as the first aider on duty. I loved it.

But life gets busy. Volunteering stopped, and first aid training became something I renewed far less often than I should have.

Fast forward a decade (and then a fair bit more), and my youngest daughter had an accident. She was playing—supervised—and then she jumped and landed with a sound that still haunts me.

It’s strange what you remember. My husband screamed for me. He didn’t need to, I jumped out of bed and was half way to the back room before he had finished my name. I was in a t-shirt and underwear. I remember my emotions shutting down as saw her limp on the floor, I kicked the bedroom door closed behind me so our older children did not watch their baby sister die. There was no time for feelings. They would come later.

I started working to keep my toddler alive while my husband called the ambulance. When she was revived, I remember saying, “Maybe we don’t need the ambulance now,” even though I knew we absolutely did. Somehow, if the ambulance came, it made it real. It made it serious.

Side note: it was serious.

Even in that moment, my brain was doing strange things. While I was performing CPR, I was also giving instructions: “Call the ambulance… I’m going to need pants and a bra—I can’t stop, you need to find them.” At one point, he was trying to put my bra on me while I was still wearing a shirt and my arms were doing CPR. We can laugh about it now… almost.

I truly believe my daughter is alive today—now a vibrant, incredible teenager—because in that moment, the training came back. I was scanning for danger, responding automatically, moving through the steps without having to think. From the moment of the accident to first aid being delivered was less than a minute.

The ambulance was incredibly fast—we were lucky. They happened to be nearby and arrived in under 10 minutes. But let me tell you, how long 10 minutes feels depends entirely on whether your child is breathing.

By the time they arrived, she was in and out of consciousness, but she was breathing. Her little heart was beating. And that made all the difference.

I’m sharing this because so many people I speak to aren’t prepared for what to do if their child has an accident. Recently, a new mum said to me, “I haven’t done any first aid training, but I’m pretty switched on—I think I’d know what to do.”

That felt a bit like saying, “I’ve never learned Spanish, but I’m pretty clever—I’ll figure it out when I get to Spain.” The difference is, in Spain you might order the wrong meal. In an emergency, the stakes are much higher.

That conversation is why we’re running a Heartbeat Club session.

Run by Royal Life Saving, it’s designed for anyone with an infant or young child in their life. It covers CPR and practical first aid for the kinds of situations parents and carers actually face.

It’s not about getting a certificate.
It’s about knowing what to do when it matters most. If I were to give any advice to new parents it is to listen to all the advice and choose what is right for you AND learn first aid! 

Get your tickets to this invaluable first aid course here