A schoolgirl who stayed on the phone to ambulance control after her dad suddenly became ill, has been honoured with a bravery award.
Lauren Brennan was in her local park with her dad John, mum Claire, brother Shaun, a friend and the family dog when, her dad John said he suddenly "lost all power in my left side and lost my speech.”
John, 38, who was born with a genetic heart condition, said, “My wife thought I was having a suspected stroke due to my heart condition and started to put me in the recovery position.”
He revealed that the episode came on without warning: “I was playing with the children when they noticed I wasn’t talking or responding to them. Claire noticed a droop on one side of my face and I couldn’t talk or respond to any instructions.”
They told me later that I was, “just staring into space.”
Lauren quickly jumped into action and rang 999, John explained.
Lauren, even though she was just nine years old at the time in July 2016, was following the instructions of the emergency call taker who asked her to get her dad to try and raise his arms, to smile and other important checks relating to strokes.
Her dad was not responding and said: “I had no speech or movement for an hour and a half but thank God it came back to normal then. The doctors told me they suspected I had a mini-stroke called a TIA.”
Because Lauren was able to relay all the information and instructions from ambulance control, her mum was able to stay with John and help carry out the checks requested by the emergency services until the ambulance arrived.
Lauren talked to the emergency call taker and “she gave all the relevant information regarding the situation and our location to them and she stayed on the phone until the ambulance arrived.”
John and Claire said Lauren, who is now 12, “was simply amazing.”
The family live in Tallanstown, Co Louth and John explained that an emergency call taker in their community, Brian Byrne, “heard of Lauren’s amazing story and asked us if it was okay to put her forward for an award.”
John said that Brian also knew of Lauren’s fundraising efforts for many charities over the years including for the Irish Heart Foundation, the Mater Foundation, the Simon Community, the Irish Hospice Foundation, Save Our Homeless Dundalk as well as Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin and Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
Earlier this month Lauren paid a special visit to the National Ambulance Headquarters in Tallaght where she received an award for bravery.
John said: “Lauren is a real giver and loves helping others and this award was a great recognition not just for what she did on that day at 9 years of age, but also of all the work she puts into helping others.”
Lauren added: “I’m so glad to have my daddy home with us and doing so well”.
John will mark one year since he had a heart transplant in September and says he thinks of his donor and their family every day.
His transplant has saved his life and he said, “this will be the first summer that I will be able to fully enjoy being with the kids.”
“I am doing good thank God and have finished my cardiac rehab clinic and getting stronger with each passing week.”
