A one-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after she choked on a chopped up sausage and went in to cardiac arrest.
Little Caris Cook's heart stopped for three minutes as medics battled to save her life.
Ciara Cook describes enduring “every mum’s worst nightmare” as the toddler, who had celebrated her first birthday just five days earlier, went limp.
The youngster was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow and Ciara, 20, was told her precious daughter needs to have her windpipe reconstructed using cartilage from her rib cage.
Traumatised Ciara is now having to see a psychologist following her baby’s horrendous ordeal.
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The tot remains in the high dependency unit at the Glasgow hospital, where she is receiving round-the-clock care.
She faces a “a long road ahead”, but Ciara is thankful her little girl survived the terrifying experience.
Describing the frightening moment when Caris began choking last month, Ciara told the Daily Record : “She was just eating her sausages for breakfast as normal when I heard her make a funny noise; I looked at her to see her bent over coughing, trying to get the piece of sausage up.
“I just ran over to her and started to panic; I tried patting her back and when I knew that wasn’t working, I knew I had to get help.
“So I ran outside to get my neighbour, Isabel; when she came to the door I was screaming for her to help me.
“I passed Caris to Isabel and called an ambulance; at this point, Caris was really struggling and her skin was turning blue.
“The ambulance took six minutes to arrive – but it felt like a lifetime.
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“When it came, the paramedic, Ryan McLaughlin, helped Caris into the back of the ambulance to take us to Monklands Hospital.
“Caris went into cardiac arrest for three minutes but the amazing staff at the hospital managed to get her heart going again.
“I was told the only option after that was an emergency tracheostomy and this saved my daughter’s life.
“She spent four hours in theatre while my whole family and I sat in a wee room anxiously waiting for news."
Caris added: "She has to have a major operation to get her windpipe reconstructed, using cartilage from her rib cage, which means she will have to spend another week under sedation in intensive care, and further weeks back in the high dependency unit.
“Caris is coping well at the moment – we are waiting for her operation date and I’m staying at the hospital with her.”
Ciara added: “Caris eats sausages every other day and they were chopped up as I worked in a nursery two years ago and knew how small they had to be.
“I’d urge other parents out there to watch your babies like a hawk when they are eating as this could happen to anyone.”
