Young Asperger boy’s brave battle to save his Nanna

LEON Hammond-Jeffrey watched the National Pride of Australia awards live last year alongside his Nanna, Heather Hammond, with a sense of wonderment.

LEON Hammond-Jeffrey watched the national Pride of Australia awards live from Sydney last year alongside his nanna, Heather Hammond, with a sense of wonderment.

“I was thinking how brave and kind everyone was,” Leon, of Ethelton, said.

“We really enjoyed it and nanna was saying it was a very good thing.”

Little could Leon know the tragedy to come that would see him nominated for a Pride of Australia award this year,

Few family bonds are as strong as the one between the 12-year-old and his nanna that was broken in January this year.

No one disputes that the boy with Asperger Syndrome, an autism disorder, was Mrs Hammond’s favourite grandchild.

They were so close it was often joked that Leon was his grandmother’s “shadow”.

Due to troubled family circumstances, the boy had lived with her on and off at Largs Bay and would do anything to help and support his nanna.

That commitment of love and devotion reached a new level early in the New Year.

It was a warm Adelaide summer night on Saturday, January 11 and Leon, not able to sleep at 1am, went to his grandmother’s bedroom.

No one else was in the house.

As they discussed a favourite TV show Mrs Hammond, aged 69, stopped speaking mid-sentence and her jaw quivered open and then closed.

Leon listened at her chest but could not detect a heart beat and knowing his nanna was in a bad way rushed to call an ambulance.

Asperger's sufferers can often experience difficulty understanding instructions but Leon listened intently as an ambulance officer talked him through what he should do to deliver cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

He was told to lower Heather to the ground, no little feat, with a woman weighting over 80kg for a slight, under sized boy of 11.

Leon gently eased her off the bed onto his knees and then on to the floor and just as the calm voice on the other end of the phone told him, commenced CPR by pumping her heart and breathing into her lungs.

He did this for 15 minutes until paramedics arrived but to no avail. Mrs Hammond died from a massive heart attack.

The distraught boy blamed himself for her loss and that was the primary reason his aunt, Sandy Hammond, decided to nominate him for a Pride of Australia award in the Child of Courage category.

“I just couldn’t bear it that Leon felt guilty that he hadn’t done enough for his Nanna when he had been so brave,” Mrs Hammond said.

“To cap it all his pet dog had been so sick and had to be put down on the very same day Heather died. Your heart just bleeds for him.”

Leon is slowly coming to terms with what has happened and that he did everything possible for Nanna.

Being nominated for a Pride of Australia award is a large part of his rehabilitation and understanding it was not his fault.

Leon, who now mainly lives with his uncle Ronald Hammond, says he still misses his nanna very much.

The lad has had his troubles growing up, being bullied at school and then being expelled himself, but his supportive family hope this experience and acknowledgment will be a turning point.

“That night and ever since the family has told him he is a hero and most adults could not of done the amazing job he did,” Ms Hammond added.

“This was a remarkable act by a child that has been seen by most of the world as a problem and he needs to know he’s amazing.”