For paramedic Brian Forbes, it was a normal Tuesday at work. Or as normal as it gets when you have a BBC film crew, making a 10-part documentary series in tow.
He and his partner John were at a training session near East Kilbride when a call came over the radio. Details were sketchy but it was a water incident in Eaglesham, Renfrewshire. Brian and John exchanged what he calls “the look”. They were on their way.
Over at the loch, Laura Cuthbert was beside herself. She and her autistic son, Felix, were staying with friends for a three-day break.
He had been fascinated by the water since they arrived.
About 11am, Felix, then three, was in the living room playing with building blocks. Laura checked on him, walked back to the kitchen and took three bites from her bacon roll. When she went back for another look, he was gone.
By the time Brian arrived on the scene, Laura and a friend had pulled Felix out of the water where he had fallen.
Despite not having done CPR for 15 years, she was pressing her son’s chest and turning him over to clear water from his mouth.
Brian, John and the other paramedic, Craig, took over. Brian’s role was keeping Felix’s airway clear while Craig continued with CPR. Somehow he managed to get a breathing tube down Felix’s throat.
Brian said: “It’s one of the hardest I’ve ever had to manage. I was holding his head and not letting go – 1mm of movement either side and it wasn’t allowing me to get air in.
“My hand was sore for three days afterwards because it had been locked in that position, holding his head and face.”
“It worked and soon Felix started trying to breath on his own.
“They stopped CPR. He had a pulse. He still needed an oxygen mask to help breathing but Felix was hanging on.”
Laura remembered: “All I heard was them saying, there’s an output. It meant there was a heartbeat. And where there’s a heartbeat, there’s life and I started crying.”
More help was arriving. Brian said: “This little boy’s stars aligned. Everything was in place that day to save that boy’s life.
“The trauma team was a paediatric anaesthetist and a consultant paramedic who specialised in paediatrics.
“It was just chance it was two paediatricians on that day. They took over the drug treatment while we continued to do the airways and get him stabilised before we moved him.”
Felix went off in an ambulance to hospital. Police escorted him all the way, to ensure a smooth journey for the desperately-ill child and the two doctors treating him on the move.
Brian explained what was happening to Laura and took her in his vehicle as part of the convoy.
He said: “When we put Felix in the ambulance, that was the adrenaline done. His mum grabbed me and gave me a big hug. I started welling up, it was really quite emotional.”
Brian has been a paramedic for almost 10 years.
His unit, the Special Operations Response Team, are trained to deal with the toughest emergencies. He’s at multiple car crashes, drownings and major incidents every day. But Felix got under his skin.
He said: “We always think about what the outcome’s going to be. Going on previous experience, I didn’t think Felix was going to survive.”
Doctors put Felix into a coma to give his body a chance to recover. The next morning, Laura was back to the hospital. And despite being in a coma, Felix was fighting his way out. “He’s a total warrior,” Laura said.
By Wednesday, it was time to take him out of a coma. It would then be clear if there was any brain damage. It took just 20 minutes to bring a bewildered but perfectly-well Felix round.
Brian and John spent the week wondering how Felix was getting on. Come Sunday, when they were back on shift, they popped in for a visit. Felix, who they had last seen with an oxygen mask over his face, being loaded into an ambulance with a police escort, was jumping on the bed.
Brian said: “It’s a job I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, one of the ones where you feel that you did make a difference.
“That boy will go on to have a family, have children, have a life. The outcome makes it a happy situation.”
The accident has changed how Laura feels about her son.
She added: “It is the most horrific thing I’ve ever been through but the most positive things have come out of it.
“I was looking at the stuff he wasn’t doing instead because of his autism instead of appreciating the beautiful little boy.
“Now I just look at him and I’m flabbergasted. I’m so grateful for everything.”
Paramedics on Scene is on BBC Scotland on Sunday, September 29, at 9pm.
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