HEROIC supermarket staff who stepped in to save a baby’s life after he swallowed his tongue whilst shopping with his family have been emotionally reunited with the tot.
Lucy Barkham - who was doing her weekly shop as usual at Asda’s branch in Worsbrough with her partner Calum and children Ruby, seven, three-year-old Roman and Ronnie, one - noticed her youngest was ‘shaking’ in his pushchair.
He had suffered a febrile convulsion - a seizure caused by a high fever - and swallowed his tongue before Asda staff Jackie Walker and Chris Nelson rushed to the family’s help as panic set in and fellow shoppers looked on in horror.
Lucy said her family had nothing but praise for Jackie and Chris, who she says she owes her son’s life to given their quick-thinking intervention.
The 27-year-old said: "We can't thank Jackie and Chris enough for what they did that day - they saved Ronnie's life.
“They were so quick and everyone there was so understanding.
"We were at the end of our shop and we were just getting our last bits when we noticed Ronnie shaking in his pushchair - I just shouted for help as I didn't know what was happening.
"My partner got him out of the pushchair and then Jackie took over while another colleague called for an ambulance.
"I was beside myself at this point as Ronnie had gone blue in the face.
“I thought he was dying and it was so frightening.
“One minute he was fine and the next minute he was shaking.
“It turned out he'd had a seizure and had choked on his tongue.
“It was a really scary time for everyone."
It was all in a day’s work for grandmother-of-seven Jackie who, after saving the baby’s life, settled back at her check-out soon after Ronnie was rushed to Barnsley Hospital were doctors diagnosed a throat infection which caused him to have a high temperature and the seizure.
Jackie, 62, added: "It was great to see Ronnie again - the last time I saw him he was such a poorly baby, but now he's a rosy-cheeked little chunk.
"After seeing them all terrified and upset it was great to see a happy wee family.
"The day Ronnie stopped breathing was a day he won't remember, but one the rest of us won't forget.
"One of my colleagues rushed down to me saying there was a baby who had gone blue and if I knew what to do.
"I asked Calum if I could take the baby from him as he was just limp and not breathing.
“I turned him upside down and patted him on the back, but nothing was happening, so I put my fingers in his throat to see if there was anything stuck, but I couldn't see anything.
“I gave him another whack on the back and then Chris took over and thumped him on the back too.
"We got him breathing again for about two minutes but then he stopped again for a few seconds.
“He started again just before the paramedics came and took over - it was such a relief that he started to breathe again, it really was.
"At the time the adrenaline just took over and I knew I just had to get things done but it was afterwards that I was a bit shaky.
“Chris was so calm throughout it all too; he was great.
"The whole incident took only five or six minutes, but it felt a lot longer.
“After Ronnie was taken to hospital I just went back to my check-out.”
