A mother has credited her young daughter with saving her life after she suffered an epileptic seizure and fell in the bathtub.
Emma Evans, from Bridgend, south Wales, had “turned blue” when she was found by her husband Alun after hearing a call from their daughter.
Emma, 33, believes she would have died if her three-year-old Amelia had not raised the alarm when she did.
Amelia yelled at Alun, the property’s maintenance manager, after her mother fell headlong into the tub of warm water during an attack on March 16, saying “mom went to my bathroom” and banging the door.
Alun, 52, rushed to the bathroom and found Emma with no pulse and not breathing, but incredibly after six rounds of CPR, he was able to restart her heart.
Emma Evans says her three-year-old daughter Amelia (pictured together) saved her life after suffering a seizure.
Photographs taken after Emma’s seizure show her with purple bruises under her eyes after blood vessels in her face burst.
After spending five days at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Emma was sent home with strict instructions to rest.
She now says that her young son is the reason she is alive today and believes that if something had happened differently, she would not have survived.
Emma, a mother of one and an operations department intern, said: “My husband rescued me, but if my daughter hadn’t said anything or wasn’t in the room, then I wouldn’t be here now; it would be a completely different story. .
‘While he was doing chest compressions, she had her little wand and was waving it over my head saying, “Wake up mom.”
“Since then I haven’t been able to go to the bathroom, it has been very difficult.
‘I feel like if there had been any part of that situation different, it would have ended differently.
“My husband was away the week before and my daughter usually plays in her room while I run her a bath – obviously it wasn’t my time to go.”
Emma was bathing Amelia when the attack occurred and says the last thing she remembers is her little girl asking her to “spin like a princess.”
Emma spent five days at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend (pictured in hospital after seizure)
Her husband Alun (left) found her in the bathroom and had “turned blue” after Amelia raised the alarm.
Amelia saved Emma’s life by shouting ‘mom pinched my toilet’, which set off the alarm for Alun
Emma, who was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 22, says she believes she had a seizure before falling against the door and then getting into the bathtub.
Photos taken after her seizure show her with purple bruises under her eyes after blood vessels burst in her face.
The previous seizures left her with a severe head injury, broken nose and broken teeth.
Amelia shouted at Alun, who ran into the room, and Emma says he described her as underwater and “navy blue,” with no pulse and no breathing.
Alun said: ‘She was slumped over the side of the bath with her head and shoulders completely submerged. I took Emma out of the bathroom and she was navy blue.
“He wasn’t breathing and his eyes were wide open and glassy.”
He pulled her out of the water and gave her two rescue breaths before beginning chest compressions, and incredibly, after six rounds of CPR, he restored her pulse and breathing before the paramedics arrived.
She was rushed to the hospital and kept for five nights before being released.
Amazingly, Emma was able to regain consciousness after six rounds of CPR.
Emma has now made a full recovery, but says the experience has left her shaken and finding it difficult to return to the bathroom.
Emma wants to continue teaching Amelia what to do during a seizure and encourages others to learn CPR and first aid.
Despite making a full recovery, Emma says the experience shook her and made her feel incredibly lucky.
She believes that without her daughter calling for help and without her husband’s CPR knowledge, she would not have survived.
Now Emma wants to continue teaching Amelia what to do during a seizure and encourages others to learn CPR and first aid.
“CPR and first aid are not difficult to learn, it’s something that should be common knowledge,” Emma said.
‘It has been a traumatic experience; I’m still recovering from a basic death.
‘As Amelia gets older, my husband will teach her CPR and first aid and we will teach her the basics of what to do during a seizure as she gets older too.
“I’m still in disbelief, it was his actions that saved me, I feel like, given his age, he’s gone above and beyond.”
Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and leaves patients at risk of seizures, which occur when there is a sudden burst of electrical activity in the brain.
While some seizures make people more alert and aware of their surroundings, they can cause others to lose consciousness or experience unusual sensations, such as stiffening and falling to the ground.