Erin Molan’s frantic triple-0 call as daughter struggled to breathe

TV and radio personality Erin Molan became emotional as the call she made to triple-0 a day earlier played on-air.

TV and radio personality Erin Molan was in tears as the triple-0 call for her young daughter was played on-air this morning.

Molan was missing from the Hughesy, Ed & Erin show on 2Day FM on Thursday after her three-year-old daughter Eliza woke up struggling to breathe at about 4am.

Molan called triple-0 and Eliza, who is now fine, was taken to hospital by ambulance.

She struggled to listen to the call played on air on Friday, becoming emotional.

“Wow that is so hard to listen to,” Dave Hughes said when the recording ended.

Later in the show, the team spoke to the control centre officer who answered Molan’s call and stayed on the phone until paramedics arrived.

Brydie, a former travel agent who made the career change a year ago, highlighted the importance of calling triple-0 for breathing difficulties after Molan explained she wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing at the time.

“Your call definitely warranted a call,” Brydie said, adding that everyday they receive calls that should not be made.

“We get calls that are people trying to find their remote controls or their airpods.”

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Erin Molan and daughter Eliza, 3, at an event on the federal election campaign earlier this month. Picture: Jason Edwards

On Thursday, Molan had called into the show to explain her absence and why she had been at the hospital.

“A few times during the night she woke up saying her throat was a little bit sore but then kind of went off to sleep pretty quickly,” she said.

“And then at 4am this morning she woke up and just couldn’t breathe, which was awful.”

Molan said it was unusual as Eliza had not had any breathing issues like asthma previously.

“She just couldn’t get any air in,” she said.

“I picked up my phone to call triple-0 and then I’m thinking, ‘Oh god I know they’re short,’ and I don’t want it to be a false alarm, and you start to second-guess … but I went, ‘No I’ve just got to do it.’”

Molan said the emergency response was “incredible” and Brydie stayed on the phone with her for 14 minutes and helped calm Eliza while she waited for an ambulance.

Paramedics gave the three-year-old a steroid at the house to open her airways before taking her to hospital.

“It’s just really scary as a mum to not know how to help her and she’s panicking because she can’t get enough air in,” Molan said.

Molan confirmed Eliza was much better after their scary night. Picture: Toby Zerna

Molan later learned Eliza had croup and doctors believed the cold weather in the early hours of the morning made the symptoms worse.

“[The doctor] said this should be it now. She’s fine now. The steroid, [the doctor] said to me as I left, ‘It will keep her up now so good luck,’” Molan laughed.

Molan said she had been alone with Eliza, and unlike her ex-fiance and Eliza’s dad, police officer Sean Ogilvy, emergencies were not her strength.

Molan announced her split from Ogilvy in September last year and in October opened up about the strain of coping with shared custody.

“Sean loves Eliza more than the world, and so do I,” she told 9 Honey. “It’s certainly an adjustment. You go from being with the most important person in your life 24/7 to then having to share your child and that’s really, really tough.

“But we’re both really blessed in that she is our priority and always will be and whatever is best for her, we do. And that is something I never have to worry about and something he never has to worry about.”

Originally published as Erin Molan’s frantic triple-0 call as daughter struggled to breathe