A mother has described how her 13-year-old daughter saved her life using CPR she had learned at primary school after she suddenly collapsed at home.
Lois Johnson, 37, was getting ready for bed and turning off the lights in the living room when she felt a sudden, intense shooting pain in her head shortly before Christmas last year. She called out for her daughter Keva as the pain worsened, and seconds later she blacked out.
Keva found her mother lying on the floor, having seizures and vomiting. When Lois stopped breathing, Keva called an ambulance and began giving CPR, which she had learned at school three years earlier. She continued for around 15 minutes until paramedics from North West Ambulance Service arrived and took over.
Waking up in hospital
Lois said she does not remember falling to the floor. The next thing she recalled was waking up in a dark hospital room with no one around her, without a phone or shoes on her feet. She was discharged later that day and returned home, where she learned that Keva's quick thinking had likely saved her life.
Keva later explained that during the episode her mother had fallen and hit her head, suffered seizures, and then stopped breathing. Since April, Lois says she has experienced 76 seizures, which Keva has helped her endure, including placing her in the recovery position.
Diagnosis and ongoing care
Lois has since been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition affecting how the brain sends and receives signals through the nervous system. It can cause symptoms including seizures, weakness, problems with movement, and difficulties with speech.
She also lives with asthma and fibromyalgia, and has five meningiomas, tumours arising from the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Most meningiomas are non-cancerous, although their effects can vary depending on size and location.
Lois described her daughter as brave and strong, saying, "I don't think I would be here today without her."
St John Ambulance research
New research from St John Ambulance found that one in five men say they would hesitate to give CPR to a woman in public for fear of being filmed and posted on social media, and almost a third (31%) of men said they would hesitate for fear of accusations.
A spokesman for St John Ambulance said: "When someone is in cardiac arrest, every second counts. Early CPR can double the chances of survival, yet some people hesitate when the person needing help is a woman because they are worried about touching her chest."
Lois hopes her experience will encourage people to act when someone needs help, regardless of gender. "She saved my life and I'll be forever grateful to her," she said.
