Telford mum speaks of pride after 'little hero' son Josh, 5, saves her life

Caroline Chapman said her son Josh was a “little hero” and his actions had been “unbelievable”, as he dialled the police and directed the emergency services to their Donnington home last month.

On arrival police discovered 41-year-old Caroline on the floor with her other son, two-year-old Harry, asleep on top of her. The officers arranged for paramedics to come and treat her for the effects of her type 1 diabetes.

Caroline explained how Josh did not yet know how to use the phone and had worked it out himself, dialling the number he found on the side of his toy ambulance. The phone number 112, which is on the toy, is in fact the single European emergency number which provides the same purpose as 999.

She said: “All I remember was I was playing on the floor with the boys.

“The next thing I remember is lying on the floor with paramedics around me.”

Caroline explained that Josh knows how to help when she starts suffering from the effects of her diabetes, but that he had gone way beyond as she slipped into a far more serious condition.

She said: "He's just turned five and we have never taught him how to use the telephone. He knows if I go low to get the haribos or some Lucozade but if that was me and I had been in the same situation I would have just panicked, but for him to think of picking up the telephone and to dial the number is just unbelievable.

"The fact he stayed on the telephone and really helped the police with the address too, I am really proud of him."

She said: “The fact he stayed on the telephone and really helped the police with the address too, I am really proud of him.”

She added: “At home he is quite chatty but with other people he’s not so it is even more of a surprise that he gave them the address.”

Caroline explained that the police had taken care of the boys as they waited for medical help to get there.

She said: “The police arrived and managed to get in and found my youngest lying on me asleep. He may have known something was wrong because he would never come to me and fall asleep like that.”

Josh’s quick-thinking actions ensured that his mum was able to get essential medical treatment, and were all the more incredible because of how he found the telephone number.

Caroline said: “It is just a little toy ambulance and that is how he got the number and that is even more amazing.

“We could have got Batman or anyone turning up on the door!”

After his heroics Josh was treated to a visit to his local police station.

She said: “He loved it. He had been so excited for about a week beforehand. He was quite shy even more so at the police station because we obviously had quite high ranking officers there but he loved it.

“He got to sit in the police car and press the buttons for the sirens.”