Thomas hailed a hero for 999 call

8:40am Tuesday 5th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A SEVEN-year-old Hereford schoolboy has been hailed a hero for dialling 999 when he found his mother bleeding on the floor after she had an epileptic fit.

Thomas Evans stayed calm as he called the emergency services and found a key to let paramedics in to the family’s Westfaling Street home.

He looked after his five-year-old brother George, who was distressed and upset by the incident.

And he even told the medics where his grandparents lived so they could contact them.

But his calm reaction was even more remarkable as Thomas, a pupil at Lord Scudamore Primary School, lost his aunt earlier this year when she had an epileptic fit in the bath.

Emma Knight-Bolton was just 34 when she died.

Thomas’s mum Sarah said the family had been hit hard by the tragedy and had made them all more safety conscious.

Pam Knight, Thomas’s grandmother, said: “He is our little hero. He had it all under control.

“Neither George nor Thomas had seen either Sarah or Emma have a fit. I think they are both wonderful, considering they have never had to deal with a situation like this before.

“Emma would have been really proud of them. It is scary when anybody has a fit – but it was more scary for us given what happened to Emma.”

Thomas admitted being scared when he found his mum on the floor but said he knew what to do.

He said: “I heard a noise and came out of my bedroom and saw mum laying on the floor bleeding.

“I ran into my mum’s room and rang the ambulance up. There was a lady on the phone and she asked how old I was. She asked me if my mother was breathing and I said she was.

“Then they (the paramedics) came in, went upstairs to the bathroom to see if mum was alright.

“I was scared a little bit and George was screaming.”

Proud mum Sarah said she was about to have the bath when she had the fit.

“A few minutes later and I would have been in the bath,” she said. “ I don’t think there are too many seven-year-olds who could pull this off.”

She added: “It has put everybody on tenterhooks with what happened to Emma. I am stopping having a bath when I am on my own and will now take showers.”

Her mother Pam was recently joined by her aunt on the Race for Life in memory of Emma.

Nearly £1,000 was raised for Epilepsy Research UK, which has opened a memorial fund in Emma’s name.

Close to £1,300 was raised at her funeral for the charity and breast cancer care at Hereford’s Charles Renton Unit.