A Scots mum has thanked the strangers who helped her 12-year-old daughter when she fainted getting off of the bus to school.
Brooke Donaghy, 12, was heading to school on Tuesday morning when she collapsed getting off the bus in Easthouses, south east of Dalkeith. Edinburgh Live reports that the bus driver stayed with her while calling her mum, as he was worried about her welfare.
Her mum, Natasha Smart, 33, has expressed her gratitude to the driver and passengers for stepping in to help. Natasha, from Mayfield, can't bear to think of what might have happened if they hadn't stayed by her side.
She said: "I got a phone call from Brooke's phone at 8.20am while I was getting ready for work and getting her two younger sisters ready for school. A man answered and asked 'Is this Brooke's mum?'
"I said yes. He said: 'I'm the bus driver of the bus your daughter Brooke was on today.' Of course, panic set in. He said Brooke had fainted on the bus when she was exiting at her stop.
"I was like, 'oh my god is she okay?' He then told me she is very white and doesn't look very well."
The mum then raced to the bus stop at the local school while panicking about what could be wrong with her daughter. She arrived two minutes later to find Brooke sitting at the door of the bus with the driver keeping her company.
She continued: "He then explained to me as she was getting off she just passed out and he felt like she didn't look well so didn't want her walking off by herself. He said if it was his own daughter he'd have done the same."
Worried Natasha then took Broke to the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People after the youngster said she still felt ill. Medics gave her the all clear.
Since then, she has been in touch with a woman who stopped to help Brooke, and has contacted the bus company to pass her gratitude on to the driver. She thinks Brooke may have passed out because she forgot to take her breakfast with her.
She added: "The hospital said it could have been that she's been running about stressing about missing the bus and she didn't take her breakfast with her that morning, as it was on the counter because I had made her pancakes. Usually she eats them on the way to the bus stop but that morning she didn't take them so it could have been that.
"It just showed me the danger of kids running out the door to meet friends or saying 'I'm not hungry', or just not taking in that breakfast is the most important part of the day. No matter how healthy they are always make sure they have or take something in the morning because this time she was fine – it was nothing serious, she just got a scare – but it could have been a lot worse.
"This morning she was up and dressed and I stood with her toast in my hand and we hugged at the door and she left. When she went I texted her about five times to make sure she was okay and by the fifth time she was like, 'right Mum I'll be fine.'"
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