A young mum wants to thank two "fantastic" paramedics for their quick and efficient response after her three-year-old daughter went into an anaphylactic shock and stopped breathing.
Charlotte Phillips said the ambulance and paramedics got to her daughter, Amelia, within three minutes of the call to 999 on Tuesday 9 November.
The alarm was raised when her daughter took a turn in nursery, and soon went "into a daze and all but stopped breathing."
The 30-year-old said the incredible paramedics helped the family come back around from what was described a “traumatic” experience for them, Plymouth Live reports.
Charlotte and Amelia's experience comes as the NHS is under intense pressure because of ambulance wait times, due to handover delays at hospitals.
Amelia's experience comes as a diabetic man, 92, was forced to wait nearly 14 hours for ambulance after fall in his kitchen in Staffordshire last Monday.
Cyril Pepper was left with severe back pain and damage to his arm after banging his head falling at his home.
Cyril's situation is sadly not unique, but the paramedics were able to get to Charlotte's daughter because they were not far away when she called.
She was suffering from anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life threatening allergic reaction that can happen in a matter of seconds or hours when exposed to something the sufferer is allergic to. In Amelia's case she is allergic to milk, butter cheese and cream.
Amelia went into her first anaphylactic shock when she was just eighteen months old, where Charlotte had to use an EpiPen to save her life.
Charlotte said other times she has come into contact with something she is allergic to, she has come up in a rash.
Charlotte received a phone call from her nursery to tell her that Amelia was not herself, so they collected her and took her home.
Charlotte told PlymouthLive: “I had a phone call from her nursery saying that she went really quiet, a bit dazed and glazy eyed and lucky enough my mum was home to pick her up.
“She was then trying to talk to me but her breathing was quite shallow and disrupted, so I tried to talk to her and then realised something's not right here, so I ran downstairs to grab her EpiPen.
“I jabbed her with the pen then called 999 and I know the NHS is under so much pressure, which is such a shame, but luckily enough within three and a half minutes they were with us and got her into recovery position.”
Charlotte said it was her second time using an EpiPen on Tuesday and she did not realise fully what was going on, and did not know all of the signs to look out for with her daughter, so when she did use it, she said it was too late.
She said that minutes before the paramedics arrived she watched her daughter "all but stop breathing and go a grey colour" that was an emotional experience.
Not long after the paramedics arrived to open her airways and give her another shot of an EpiPen to help ease off Amelia's anaphylactic shock.
Charlotte said: “They were just absolutely fantastic, they stayed here and made sure she was stable, watched her from the EpiPen being used. They reassured us and thanked me really for doing everything that I could have in that situation.
“They were just amazing. When they left they, left us feeling quite confident knowing what we had to do and what to look out for.”
Although Charlotte said she felt "awful" for calling the paramedics after seeing the pressure on the NHS in the media, they reassured her to always call them whenever she uses a EpiPen on her daughter.
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